The *fairest* way to handle the problems with Social Security and Medicare

While I can respect your point of view, it seems like it may be a slightly socialist view. The United States was built upon a Capitalist system. Captain John Smith once said, “He that will not work shall not eat.” Today, this statement is most likely considered very brutal. Since the colonial times, new issues have popped up. More poverty, more sicknesses, etc. However, why should the United States, one of the world’s biggest super powers, give up its beliefs to help certain people? People who truly apply themselves can find something to do to make money. I agree with your point, why should those who throw a pigskin around, or are famous, make more money than say, an American who throws himself in front of a bullet for yours and mine freedom?  How is that justifiable? It really isn’t. But what about people like Warren Buffett, who built the Multinational conglomerate company Berkshire-Hathaway, or Bill Gates, who worked hard to advance the Computing field. Why should they be forced to pay extra for the people who don’t want to get out there and work, because you know there are people out there like that. Let’s look at some numbers though. According to Robert Frank, from CNBC.com, who quoted a non-partisan tax policy center, the top-earning 1% of Americans “…will pay 45.7 percent of the individual income taxes in 2014—up from 43 percent in 2013 and 40 percent in 2012…”. The top 1% has has been paying more and more in individual income taxes since 2012, and if that trend continues, they will eventually be paying 50% of the individual income taxes in the U.S. “The bottom 80 percent of Americans are expected to pay 15 percent of all federal income taxes in 2014, according to the study. The bottom 60 percent are expected to pay less than 2 percent of federal income taxes.” Continues Mr. Frank. So we can see that the Top 1%ers in the U.S. are paying quite a bit in income taxes.