To those demanding an absolute ban on consideration of any changes to SS and Medicare...

[MannyGoldstein]

7. Assuming that you're already over the cap, you should not pay more.

Once we start fiddling with Social Security in any way, shape or form, there will be other dramatic changes such as the 22% cut in benefits that the President's commission recommended, and seniors will be clusterfucked.

I certainly support raising taxes on those who are doing pretty well (I'm over the cap too), but in this climate of bipartisan salivation over the $2.6 trillion in the Trust Fund, touching Social Security in any way will turn into a disaster.

Social Security itself is in very fine shape. The projections that it will only pay 80% of promised benefits starting 25 years from now are based on cooked numbers, they assumes that the economy will stay as bad as it is today forever. If the economy recovers even partially, then it will pay 100% for at least as far into the future as has been modeled (75 years).