This gives a nice review describing how we have come to the mess we’re in and how it doesn’t look like it’s going to improve. https://responsiblestatecraft.org/2023/05/03/de-dollarization-not-a-matter-of-if-but-when/
Due to the budget crisis, and the looming default, Social Security will not have any money to pay those on Social Security retirement and disability starting in 19 days. If you are expecting to collect your monthly benefit in June, be aware that it may not arrive in your bank. All kinds of scenarios are being proposed . Some are saying that payments will be made BUT not until later in June. Some are saying it may be 2 months before you get your JUNE payment. If this happens, it will be the 1st time in U.S. history that the U.S. has defaulted.
While I'm not saying it couldn't happen, given that the Biden Administration has gone out of its way to make the lives of Americans miserable, I doubt it. This threat comes up every time the Democrats want the Republicans to approve another extension on the debt ceiling to pay for things that we'd mostly be better off without.
With this hanging over our heads, Biden is leaving for the G-7 summit tomorrow and Congress will be going on Memorial Day vacation starting on May 26. They seem determined to create a default. God, help us retirees.
There always are, and Republicans usually cave. Democrats don't care whether we get our Social Security or not, so they don't cave. It's important to their agenda that they keep you scared, though.
I don't want to get involved in politics, but it does seem the other way around. Democrats in Congress (Bernie Sanders in particular) are trying to get an increase in the debit ceiling while Republicans are holding firm on NO INCREASE. However, you may have a different view once you have watched a few youtube videos on this subject.
It isn't necessary to raise the debt ceiling in order to make the Social Security payments, Richard. We go through this every time they want to raise the debt ceiling. I don't have to watch YouTube videos about it. Stay scared, though. Democrats depend on it, and, to be sure, a lot of people enjoy being scared.
Sorry, but I don't understand. Why is it not necessary to raise the debit limit in order to make Social security payments ? From what I have watched on youtube, that's all they have been talking about. But, you may know something I do not.
We do go through this every time they want to raise the debt ceiling, and they can be counted on to list things that would put actual Americans in dire straits as those they will have to cut if the evil Republicans don't agree to give them what they want. The reality is that 99% of what's in their budget are things that average Americans would rather not have and that we would, quite frankly, be better off without. When Republicans do hold fast for a while, as they did when Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, they closed the national parks for a while and they laid off non-essential federal employees, but they did not cancel Social Security payments, despite the fact that this was the main scare tactic used. Instead, the mainstream media regaled us with the plight of all of the non-essential federal employees who couldn't pay their mortgages or buy food, and so on, the reality being that it was a paid vacation for them. Once the Republicans finally caved, as Republicans always do, these non-essential employees received back pay for all of the days that they did not work, unlike regular Americans, who do not receive this when they are laid off. With what federal employees earn, anyone who is living from week to week on that salary deserves to be inconvenienced, and I can't help but wonder why we employ non-essential workers, to begin with. If Congress does not agree to raise the debt ceiling, it's the Biden Administration that decides what isn't going to be paid, not Republican congressmen. Will he reduce the amount of money he sends to Ukraine or will he pay Social Security benefits? Another question that should be asked is why we have a debt ceiling if Congress is expected to raise it every time a president wants to waste more money.
That's when Obama erected a curtain so the American public could not view The Grand Canyon. No one asked how that procurement got processed with non-essential workers being furloughed, nor did they ask how the Federal government could suddenly move so daggone fast, nor did they ask where the money came from in times of budget crisis.
Seems to me that every congressman knows that the largest voting bloc in the USA is seniors. They aren't going to mess with Social Security payments.