Florida has spent nearly $460 BILLION over the last four budgets and still sits on BILLIONS in reserves and surplus funds.
Yet homeowners insurance is through the roof, housing is unaffordable, and too many families are struggling to get ahead.
This isn’t a money problem. It’s a leadership problem. The people in charge have failed to turn Florida’s prosperity into relief for Floridians.
Our state desperately needs new priorities, new leadership, and real change.
@adaptSkill Can someone with similar hair explain to me what’s going on here. Like why is it simultaneously brushed in two directions. The physics do not make sense.
NEWS: Governor Wes Moore, along with Baltimore’s Mayor Brandon Scott, have overseen an over 40% decrease in homicides in Maryland putting the state on pace for its lowest homicide rate in over 40 years. That’s huge.
Social Security does not add to the national debt. It is even prohibited by law from borrowing money.
Politicians who talk about cutting or changing Social Security to address the debt are lying to you.
Here is how Social Security funding works:
Social Security is funded by payroll taxes. When more money comes in from payroll taxes than benefits that need to be paid out, Social Security is obligated to invest the surplus in Treasuries.
Treasuries are bonds. Governments and corporations issue bonds to generate money. A bond is a loan from the purchaser to the issuer.
A bond has a principal, a maturity date, and an interest rate. The principal is the value of the bond. When you buy a bond, you pay the principal. When the bond reaches its maturity date, the issuer is required to pay the principal back to the holder. The interest rate is the amount the issuer pays to the bondholder.
It is similar to how, when you take out a 30-year mortgage, you agree to a repayment schedule and to pay interest until the loan is repaid.
As Treasuries mature, if Social Security doesn't need that extra money, it rolls them over by buying new Treasuries.
When Social Security needs more money to cover benefits, it cashes out Treasuries.
The federal government has had a deficit for the past 25 years. This means that when it has to meet its obligations, it needs to borrow money.
This is how people claim that Social Security adds to the debt. That is ridiculous.
Companies and countries buy US Treasuries. You and I can buy them. Anyone holding a Treasury when it matures isn't increasing the debt. The government’s unbalanced budget is causing the debt.
Cutting Social Security will do nothing to get the US out of debt, but it would create hardship for millions of Americans.
Social Security currently has a shortfall, primarily because people are living longer and the large Boomer generation is retiring. In 1960, there were 5.1 people paying into Social Security. Today, there are only 2.7. The trust fund from past surpluses is keeping it afloat, but it is running out.
The easiest way to address the shortfall is to remove the tax cap on Social Security. Benefits do not have to be increased to do this. This is exactly what was done for Medicare in 1993. The tax cap was removed, and benefits weren't increased to better fund the program.
If you wanted money spent on schools, healthcare, public transportation, nope. Florida is wasting another $90 million in taxpayer dollars on more immigration enforcement. Purchases include more surveillance and biometric tools for police-ICE collaboration.
https://t.co/NygcUaeuks
After taxes, $36,325 was my bring home pay as a public school teacher in Florida this year.
For a state that likes to brag about having the top education system in the country, they sure don’t show appreciation for the ones who achieved it.
Florida is dead last for average teacher pay, 50th in the country. It’s shameful.
Fortunately, I have my retirement from the DoD and healthcare through the VA and Navy; but I am an outlier.
It’s unacceptable that teachers in Florida are working 2-3 jobs just to make ends meet as the cost of living continues to skyrocket, including unaffordable housing, gas prices, astronomically priced groceries, and healthcare expenditures.
This is unsustainable for Florida’s educators and their families.
Don’t just say you appreciate teachers, show it.
Nick Saban testifying for a level playing field, no tampering, fighting for non-revenue sports, is legitimately the funniest thing to happen in college sports in many years.