Social Security, Medicare and Ron DeSantis.
It’s only been a week since Anne and I returned to Chicago from a too-brief winter escape to Florida’s Gulf Coast.
It’s been a mild winter in Chicago so far.
In fact, it’s a beautiful weekend here in Chicago with temps in the high 40s and a full sky of nothing but blue.
But is not the Gulf Coast of Florida where a night time stroll required little more than a light sweater.
Some friends questioned our choice of Florida as a winter destination. After all, there’s Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis.
Ron DeSantis is the Republican alternative to Donald Trump, but with a better hair cut.
With some exceptions we don’t choose travel destinations based on who the governor is. I mean we live in the United States where Nixon, Reagan and Trump have been elected to office.
Why pick on Florida?
Besides, it’s gorgeous with wonderful people living there.
Don’t misunderstand me. DeSantis is awful on just about every issue. And Florida friends (not even close to being DeSantis supporters) warned us not to underestimate him as an opponent of the frequently feckless Joe Biden in 2024.
Recently old positions on Social Security and Medicare have come back to haunt DeSantis.
Remember when Majorie Taylor Greene screamed at Biden during his State of the Union Address, calling him a liar for saying some Republicans opposed Social Security and Medicare.
Biden wasn’t lying about that.
DeSantis is people’s exhibit A.
DeSantis called for privatizing Medicare and Social Security during his first campaign for Congress way back in 2012.
Speaking of Social Security and Medicare, The Washington Post reports that 500 of the richest Americans paid their full Social Security tax on the first day of 2023.
In the first few days of 2023, at least 500 US workers (sic) will likely have already paid their Social Security taxes for the year.
That’s because in just a day they earn the maximum amount of income subject to Social Security tax, or $160,200. Those are just executives at public companies where salaries are disclosed, such as Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook, who earned $98 million in 2021, and Intel Corp. CEO Patrick Gelsinger, who took home more than $177 million. (Their salaries for 2022 have yet to be disclosed, but it’s safe to assume that once again they will hit the tax cap immediately.) Scores more executives at private companies fall into the same category.
Here’s how the system works. To help pay for Social Security, a tax of 12.4% is split between employees and employers; a worker is subject to a 6.2% tax assessed on earnings up to a certain amount — $160,200 in 2023. Over the past four decades, Social Security’s taxable wage base has shrunk because workers are paid more in non-taxed benefits, such as health insurance. In addition, people earning high wages have received bigger raises than the bottom 95% of earners.
Some of those 500 are donors to Ron DeSantis, do doubt.