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Millions of people are voluntarily making a choice not to retire at 65 simply because they enjoy what they do.
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So, make the system fit "millions of people", and to hell with the majority who DON'T like cleaning toilets, and nailing down roofing on 100-degree days, and pulling feathers off chickens, and doing all the heavy lifting with hernias and their 65-year old backs.
Some people actually WORK for a living, and don't need you to tell them how much they enjoy it.
Here's an idea. If so many workaholics want to keep on working, let them. If there are so many millions who want to, that will fix the SS problem all by itself.
How many people are not retiring because their pensions have been stolen by the recent crash? How many are not because even with a pension and social security they won't have enough to live without selling their house and renting a tiny apartment or living in a travel trailer? How many are not because they will lose their health insurance and cannot find medical help with Medicare?
So, make the system fit "millions of people", and to hell with the majority who DON'T like cleaning toilets, and nailing down roofing on 100-degree days, and pulling feathers off chickens, and doing all the heavy lifting with hernias and their 65-year old backs.
Some people actually WORK for a living, and don't need you to tell them how much they enjoy it.
Here's an idea. If so many workaholics want to keep on working, let them. If there are so many millions who want to, that will fix the SS problem all by itself.
And what do you propose? Taxes that are so politically unpopular they could never pass? Let the present generation deplete social security and than the "hell" with everybody else?
The problem of the worker who develops physical problems before his legal retirement years has always existed. In existed in 1935 and it exists now. Social security deals with that in part through social security disability. I'm not advocating repealing that. The Americans with Disabilities Act is another tool such workers can use. People with bonafide disabilities who can do a job with reasonable accommodation can legally require employers to provide that accommodation in many instances--increasing their employability.
Most people who I know begin their work life doing physical labor. Its a rare worker who doesn't find a way to do something that involves more brain and less brawn by the time they are 55. Construction workers become construction foremen. House painters become painting contractors who hire others to do the actual heavy work involved in painting. I don't see many elderly roofers per your example.
Civilization depends on work. The abundance we enjoy in the modern world didn't come out of nowhere. It came from organizing agriculture, manufacturing, and a service economy to provide a wide array of goods and services to most Americans. I don't think there are alot of loafers or bums in this country. However, they do exist and I'm not backward about saying I don't have alot of use for people who want to do the least they can to get by in this world.
Aha. There is it. The false premise that brings crashing down your entire thesis.
Civilization depends on an organized populace efficiently providing for the whole society's well-being.
There is nothing magic about work that guarantees civilization. An entire population digging holes and filling them back in is doing work, but coming no closer to civilization.
The beauty of the machine is that it produces constant output with less work, not because it produces more output with constant work. A civilized society is one in which less work is deemed more desirable than more output. Constant output more desirable than constant work.
It is laziness to avoid work that needs to be done. It is resourcefulness to avoid work that need not be done.
I don't know how this issue is received in other countries, but I hope to Hell they have a better view of older workers than the US does! This is something that burns my hide. All of a sudden there's this push, push, push to keep people working longer ~ in a society that does NOT like to employ "old people". This is an obscenely youth-oriented country.
And, yes, there ARE older people out there ~ even elders ~ who want to work because retirement bored them (something that I simply cannot understand). Some, like my 79-year-old brother, put more effort into their jobs than many young people; others, slow down significantly, and it can be sad to watch. And I've "watched" many customers in my 19 years at my job, slow down a lot in their aging years. It's time to hang up the hat, nor should these people be forced to work.
However, older people who work because they want to, or need to, should be a choice. They should retire when they damn well want to.
Why is it we always talk about cutting SS? Why not cut those that have retirements in Congress etc? If you really want to take care of SS......move all the money from various state and Federal retirement funds to the Social Security fund! Everyone should have the same plan. If you wish to save more in a 401k etc,,,go to it. But why should we have to work an addtional 5 years or so when all the gov workers are still able to retire at 55? Why all the different plans>?
Why is it we always talk about cutting SS? Why not cut those that have retirements in Congress etc? If you really want to take care of SS......move all the money from various state and Federal retirement funds to the Social Security fund! Everyone should have the same plan. If you wish to save more in a 401k etc,,,go to it. But why should we have to work an addtional 5 years or so when all the gov workers are still able to retire at 55? Why all the different plans>?
Most state plans are actual pensions where there is money invested for the retirees. SS is just a pay as you go system where no money is actually invested on behalf of the contributors. They would still not cover the SS shortfall.
Why is it we always talk about cutting SS? Why not cut those that have retirements in Congress etc? If you really want to take care of SS......move all the money from various state and Federal retirement funds to the Social Security fund! Everyone should have the same plan. If you wish to save more in a 401k etc,,,go to it. But why should we have to work an addtional 5 years or so when all the gov workers are still able to retire at 55? Why all the different plans>?
I don't know about the various state retirement funds, but the federal government changed its retirement system years ago from the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
FERS is a more flexible retirement system which includes three tiers of income: a pension system similar to CSRS (but less financially robust), a full Social Security component, and a government-matched defined contribution program known as the Thrift Savings Plan (which is similar to 401(k) plans in the private sector). FERS covers most Federal employees and automatically includes all whose first Federal appointment was on or after January 1, 1984.
Under FERS, the minimum retirement age has also increased. For FERS retirees who were born prior to 1965, the minimum retirement age remains 55, but for those born in 1965 and later, there's a sliding scale that goes to age 57. But that's the minimum retirement age - in reality, because FERS is based in part on Social Security, many (or most?) FERS employees won't be able to retire at their minimum retirement age, but will keep working until at least age 62, when they can apply for Social Security.
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