even McTurtle agrees it won't go through

It would be a catastrophic move, that's for sure.

But remember...Fear is their brand

It's all too exhausting. I'm lucky that, for now, I won't have to depend on my SS, but who knows what the future holds.

Here is what bothers me. It is already our money. It is taken from us as a means of forced savings.

It is not a government handout.

The money has been borrowed by the government and is owed to us.

Al Gore wanted to put the money in a locked box, not to be loaned to the government.

They've been taking this money out of paychecks, and everyone had the understanding that it would be there, for them, when either by age or infirmity, it was needed.

if they did that, I'm going to sue them for our money back plus interest

I got really miffed when I went on Short Term Disability and they calculated my payment after deducting my SS deposit. I argued with them to no avail.

We should have addressed SS under Obama, but everyone said no need. Now, we have to hope GOPers are concerned about losing House.

But, there is no current proposal that is going to cut SS payments to those already getting it. Prices of food, healthcare, housing, and everything might go up while your/our SS payments stay roughly the same though.

Take care.

How far away are you from full retirement? If you file now, you will lose all the money from the beginning of when you could have taken early retirement. You will still only receive what you would had you filed when you were first eligible. You could potentially cost yourself thousands of dollars. If you are eligible for full benefits next year, I would wait. They wouldn't dare do that to people who are so close to being eligible--they will kill the generation coming up.

But call the SS office. They answer the phone fairly quickly and you can get your questions answered on the spot.
Good Luck

My financial adviser actually advised me to start collecting this year. That will mitigate what I will need to take in dividend payments, down the road. I saved a 'nest egg' so right now, I'm simply re-investing everything. I live a very simple, low frills lifestyle.

I'm going to our local SS office the first time tomorrow morning. I think I accidentally threw away my card, so I need to replace that, anyway.

It sounded as though you were just jumping in; but I see you have clearly thought this out and have a plan!