Every year, more and more are becoming totally dependent on other family members, on social benefits or health insurance payouts - or on charity.

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Millions more have quit the workforce altogether, subsisting on disability pensions or other social benefits.

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The truth is that the U.S. is wealthy enough today to pay the promised benefits to those collecting Social Security or going on the system in the next 15 to 20 years.

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Be aware that taking money out of a retirement account or selling securities at a sizable taxable gain rather than pulling cash from a certificate of deposit, money-market fund, savings or checking account could result in higher taxes on Social Security benefits if it bumps income above a certain threshold.

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If Congress fails to increase the debt limit, the government would have to stop, limit, or delay payments on a broad range of legal obligations, including Social Security and Medicare benefits, military salaries, and interest on the national debt, which is paid to big, market maker banks like J.

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Benefits thus must go on increasing, needed or not, even if they drive the programs paying the benefits (Social Security, Medicare) toward bnkruptcy.

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Their salaries are on the line, as well as their social benefits, and the chance to make money on the side as racketeers or bouncers in mafia-run bars and clubs.

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Choosing whether you pay Social Security beneficiaries or combat troops in Afghanistan, or veterans who depend on the VA for benefits, or bondholders -- these are choices that are about default.

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Historically, high net worth (HNW) individuals and families supported the causes they cared about by giving money to nonprofit organizations, with the expectation that it would be used to generate certain social benefits feeding the hungry, preparing children for kindergarten or mitigating the effects of climate change on the environment.

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