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Okay, I am probably too simplistic. If you feel that SS is a handout, no one can force you to apply for it. If you need it, then don't feel bad about applying. As for the children, I saw what my cousin did to his mother when he and his much younger wife and her kids decided they wanted her million dollar home near Berkeley. Many children financially abuse their parents and generally, the government looks the other way, as was the situation with my aunt.
I didn't read the article because I never click into articles on websites like this, but I can guess what it says. Well let me tell you what I say. It is a pitiful country that takes money from a person every day of his working life and does not hold up to your end of the deal.
What is even worse is that while you fuss and complain about doing what it right by your elders, you pay out to other countries, pay people in this country that have never paid in a dime to this government and are her as an illegal. This generation seems to want a free ride and ignore its obligations to those of us who have been paying in for a lifetime.
Go ahead and do that if you want to and in the end you will be the loser. The winner and the people who will always be the winners are those of us that have worked double time and saved and held this country up with our hard earned taxes.
Only a lawyer, or a lottery winner, or those born rich, would think those born after 1960 had it "easy" and couldn't help but "win".
My husband and I went to college in NH, which has pretty much the highest tuition and the lowest tax support of any state. Tuition was very high even in-state, and our parents thought we should pay for it to appreciate it. We did. I later put myself through grad school while working full time during the day and going to school at night. I paid every penny of it. But by the time I earned it, the labor field was so bloated with over-educated people that it no longer was an advantage.
My spouse and I made several major mistakes, all of which were made from looking at history and seeing the only ways proven to get ahead. We both took jobs in large companies that had decent pay and pensions. Unfortunately, we stayed as the companies fell to Robber Baron CEOs and company profits were kept up by slashing employee payment and benefits. Even though we both had vested pensions, they were legally liquidated with the full approval of government via a scam called "change of control" that actually did not involve any change of control. The multi-billion dollar pension funds went straight to the CEO's already-filthy-rich pockets. Too late to start anywhere else, even if we thought those pensions wouldn't be stolen.
I think a lot of my reaction to what you are saying has to do with the fact that most of the posting by you is very negative. Are you positive about anything that has occurred in your life? I read your posts just as I read others here. My impression of them is they constantly endorse an anti-government "dog-eat-dog" mentality" that I see as unrealistic, unnecessary, and destructive to boot. Its not the sort of stuff that will win you either sympathy or agreement from me.
You live in the wealthiest nation in this world. If you were born in 1961, you grew up in a time when there was more abundance in this country than probably anywhere else at any other time. I was born in September 1959. My screen name reflects that fact. My wife was born in 1960. Guess what? We made it. My field is law. Hers is nursing.
I am probably by most standards a bright person. However, I'm far from a genius and the same is true of my wife. What we both were though was very practically minded. We didn't sit around and whine about how tough it was in the beginning of our marriage. We both got to work. I couldn't get a job with a law firm when I started because even in 1984, my profession was crowded here. So, I set up my own law office.
Unlike your experience we have slowly, but gradually thrived. We will have social security, a government pension, totally owned real estate, and a 401K account (not a big enough one for all that has been put into it) to retire on. You know what though? Can you make room for the fact that some people are so happy in their jobs that they don't think they want to retire? Its how I feel right now. Too many people out there seem like they wish they could avoid work entirely. I don't identify with people like that at all. Work is what makes the idea of retirement a possibility.
Maybe part of your problem was living in New Hampshire. Honestly, if the place is as bad as you say it is with taxes and low wages, I wonder why you stayed? There are 49 other states to live in. You are still only about 50. You still have time to relocate. My advice is take a hard look at that. Why did you spend your whole life in such a place?
I think our generation had it good with the possible exception of some trouble finding work when we got out of school. I wish I could sympathize more with you. If you couldn't make it coming from this period its a darn good thing you didn't grow up in the Great Depression like my parents did.
This article obviously has struck a chord with some.
I will state that if someone has truly paid for something than they are entitled too it. No argument there.
However, it would be interesting to look at the amount most seniors have paid into the Social Security and Medicare system and compare this with what they have received. With people having retirements that now last twenty to thirty years the reality is that many take more out of the system than they put in and all the interest the money could have reasonably been earning as well.
Exactly! I have been continually struck as I looked around me over the years by the number of people who have worked at a low paying job only exactly as long as they had to, or less if they lose their job status early, and then just make do with as much as they can get from the govt (often little enough but still). They never seem to make an effort to do anything on the side, retrain, nothing. Considering that they never made much money chances are they don't have a lot saved but that doesn't seem to stop them from stopping work as soon as they can. Its a lifelong pattern. Never seek higher education, never try to learn anything new, just punch a clock for the least amount of time possible. This seems to be the average American which I think is a bit shameful myself. Add in the wives and the bad health habits and rather constant hypochondria and trips to the Dr. and meds....its no wonder the systems broke.
I've been rather shocked by the number of vets getting xx% disability checks for bs too. I work with a perfectly healthy former Capt, rides horses for a hobby, who gets 10% of her Capt's pay every month with no shame apparently because she tripped on her cat one night and broke a bone in her foot (conveniently getting her out of a deployment). She uses that 10% to pay the note on a 40 acre piece of get away property outside of town. And that is really really common.
Basically people have problem with getting money out of the Govt when they don't deserve it. Its a mindset and I personally find it disgusting. (And yues I'm a vet and a govt employee)
Also, several recent blogs have suggested that President Obama will address Social Security reform in the State of Union address. More specifically, the chatter is that he intends to encourage the adoption of the Social Security reforms proposed in the Bowles-Simpson plan.
I personally don't have children - but the majority of people in this country do. My personal experience (FWIW) is that in a large number of cases - children don't visit parents in these facilities because the children don't live close by. In some cases - this is the parents' fault (they refuse to move close to their children when they need help). And I'm sure that in some cases it's the children's fault. Robyn
Don't forget about the adult children serving in the military, who are incarcerated, adults children who are mentally ill/mentally disabled. The community service project we do at a local nursing facility has many residents with various stories on their background. I love hearing their stories.
I see that this is, indeed, an OPINION (and not a very good one IMHO). I will be happy to share with anyone who was kind enough to have helped me PAY for social security during the past 40 years that I have been working..... *looks around* Hmmmmmmm.
Hmmm let me think about it a second. Social Security, Boomers and entitlement. Hmmmm I go to high school, I go to college. Ok so far. I graduate from college and go to work. Wait they tell me I have no choice but I have to sign up for and pay into social security. Why I ask? Because you are required to and when you reach a certain age it will give you benefits that have been determined based on a formula we as a government created. Ok and if I don't want to? You have no choice if you take this job. Ok, so I do as I am told and take the job and work for 38 years and eventually I retire but am not yet at the magical age. So now as I start to reach the magical age and expect to get what I was required to contribute to I am being greedy? I think I am entitled to something that I was legally required to participate and contribute to? Hmmmmmm is this a bait and switch attempt by someone?
Do people realize that people eligible for SS and public pensions were forced to participate in those programs as a condition of and for employment? That government had access to the employees contributions for numerous decades before having to pay out a benefit? All the roads that got built with that money etc etc etc.
It really depends on the pension fund and many satates do not allow the funds to be controlled by government. The funds of many are controlled as to investment by independent boards.
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