Posted on 04/30/2012 6:20:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Social Security is slated to run out of money in 2033, three years earlier than expected. So maybe it's time for politicians to stop pandering when it comes to shoring up the system and instead rethink the retirement entitlement altogether.
Maybe we just need to look back at our history.
In the early 1900s, nearly 80 percent of Americans over the age of 65 had a job. Dora Costa, an economic historian at UCLA, says people stopped working only if they were no longer physically able to. They expected to work as long as they lived.
Is that really such a terrible idea?
Look at our labor force. It's changed dramatically since Social Security was enacted in 1935. Most of us are no longer spending our time working on farms or in heavy labor. Most of us are retiring from office jobs. Should we really be funding retirement at 65 just so we can live a life of leisure for the next 15, 20, or 25 years? Some financial advisers are even suggesting that when planning for retirement, we plan to live to 100, or at least another 30 years.
Aging just isn't what it used to be. Carroll O'Connor was only 47 when All in the Family premiered -- younger than Brad Pitt. And look at Mitt Romney. He's 65; he's fit, and he surfs. While wealthy, he's hardly an outlier. The majority of us aren't sitting in rockers in our 60s. We're physically active -- playing tennis and golf, hiking, traveling. We're living longer, healthier lives than ever before.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Businesses are starting to realize they have no choice but to hire older workers. The new workers coming to market are increasingly poorly educated and lack a work ethic. Many businesses are being to see that “Old is Gold.”
Well said! (and exactly what we are doing here - we will remain masters of our own fate here)
I like to work as well. Sure wish I liked my job, but I guess you can’t have everything in life. I love my wife and kids and friends and home, so 2 out of three ain’t bad.
I’ll just work as long as I can. Additionally, I have to help raise tax money for my sisters, who both have sweet teaching jobs and they get to retire with a nice pension, while idiots like me have to pay for it with our tax dollars.
yep, I resent that.
Yes, that is societal progress. Cave men didn't do much working by the way. Unless you call hunting, gathering and trying to avoid being slaughtered by predators and/or other cave men work. They were also lucky to live 30 years.
I think they would trade places with us in a heartbeat. Live to be 85 years old and have all the food you want...are you kidding? And what we call "work" - the cave men would laugh at us for thinking we had it so hard.
Another question not asked is why should the private sector workforce be enslaved until death so that the public sector leeches can go home at 55 with full medical and salary?
You remind me of some idiot who once asked a senior man why he held such a big overtime job, why not let HIM have a chance at it. He answered him thusly:
“Let’s see. Your seniority number is what? Maybe 880, mine is 13. I’ve worked here my whole life to hold this job. Don’t you think between #13 and #880 there might be one other guy or two who would like my job also? NOW GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE, YOU IDIOT!”
My dad worked until he was 83. He didn’t “have to” he simply liked what he did. Why quit doing something you like? I will be 62 this coming Saturday and have no intentions of walking out the door any time soon. The kids are grown, the house is about paid for and once that happens the paychecks are all mine (ours) to do with as we see fit.
If you’re self-employed you can work to any age, as long as you can do the job. Plus, there are employers who like older workers. Not all of them, of course, but if you look, you can find them.
If you’re working for anything but cash or barter after you retire(if you actually can retire), you’re just feeding the croc in order to be eaten by it,IMHO.
Yeah, like employers will be falling over themselves to hire people in there 70’s or 80’s. Employers can’t wait to dump the oldsters who hit the 60, or even 50 year mark as it is. And not everyone in their 70s or 80s can afford to start all over with their own business.
Tomorrow I turn 70. I still have a job, rolled my own, two or three days a week. My little corporation is profitable and provides a reason to get out and be productive. Working some provides pleasure.
I tire of continuous hobby work, recreational pursuits and laying around. My health is good and in some respects better than when stressed as a contractor.
When you survey your life there are talents and abilities that were secondary.One of those can provide the means for making your own new job.
The fallacy in thinking is the rut. One must first have courage and climb out of the rut.
Forget what was...... find something new, different but using part of what was. The concept of “I am a” should be abandoned in place of “I’m becoming a”
We live in a different world where there is no real stigma for an old guy doing something he likes but might be frowned on by those looking over the top of there own miserable rut. You are admired for having the where with all for getting out of your rut
Yes, age discrimination is alive and well in this country. It seems to start at about 50 and goes from there. Hardly anyone is going to hire you when you are 55 let along 65.
In my town, very small town, once you hit 45, no one will hire you. Too old.
Thank you, Bert, I am going to print out your wisdom and put it on my refrigerator. Thanks again.
Peak mental performance occurs from age 20 to 40, then starts to decline. The idea that everyone in their 50s should make more than they did in their 40s is probably wrong. Older workers have more wisdom but their younger co-workers often don't value it, are bound and determined to learn the hard way. If it was common that older people got pay decreases to match their output they would not be pushed out like they are.
The minute I can afford to retire I am. I like my work, but I like life outside of work a lot more.
Exactly right. I remember during the Bush years (the first 6, anyway), there were so many jobs companies were hiring retirees to fill.
It would stand to reason that people born in the 1950s can probably expect to make it to their 90s. As for people being born now, huge numbers of them will likely make to to by 100 or older - of course, we won’t know for sure until the 2100s.
No way. People born in the ‘50s living to their ‘90s? Thats a 20 year jump in lifespan over what it currently is now. And a huge number making it to their 100s? Think of what we eat now. Food filled with toxins, chemicals, antibiotics, and God knows what else. And it’s getting harder and harder to find food that isn’t loaded with that crap. I expect lifespan will dramatically decrease,,,not increase.
RE: during the Bush years (the first 6, anyway), there were so many jobs companies were hiring retirees to fill.
The only time I can remember this happening was when they were trying to fix the Y2K or the millenium bug problem. After that ... not so much anymore.
But then the Y2k problem was being solved in the mid to late 1990’s and the great stain maker was the president then.
My Pension is a contrct with my employer, and my 401K & IRA were established per the tax code.
Leave and MY retirement decisions alone!
It wasn’t me who decided the FICA Tax or benefits, or that those procedes should be stolen by politicians to by votes.
What a ridiculous article. There is more to this life than work. Yes, you can work until you drop if you enjoy what you do and if it is not a physically demanding job.
Having enough resources to allow you the FREEDOM to do what you want to do and when to do it is the objective of most people. Unfortunately, most people don't have that option. One-third of retired Americans have SS as their only income and for two-thirds, SS is more than half of their incomes. And many studies have indicated that most people over 50 have very little put away towards retirement.
For most, the "work until you drop" will become a necessity, not a goal. Trying to put a happy face on 70 and 80 year olds asking, "Do yoiu want fries with that?" is not my idea of your golden years.
Death panels will take care of any post-65 aspirations ...
If you listen to the Left, we shouldn’t have to work at all.
In my work environment now... that's exactly how it works, it's cost effective when it comes to overall payroll. They pay a salaried "trainer" who simply moves them in and out like a revolving door. Thus all new employees come in at slightly above minimum wage...having prior expereince no longer applys.
Additionally when it comes to trimming down staff, in the slow season, the higher waged employees (older) will always take the hit, and the first to go if necessary
The company is currently going thru a re-organization and modernizing it's facilities....as expected long term employees were offered severance if they wouldn't accept part-time work. ..and those positions were then filled by the young folk.
It's time to bring back the old welfare...
People who say this most often those with cushy jobs that tend to be easy and interesting. Those who do unpleasant real physical work tend to think differently.
Sometimes I think Mao might have had a good idea went he sent the softhands out into the countryside to do some real work for a change.
Do you understand this
/sarc
If not...then GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!
My daddy worked until he dropped. He worked through cancer treatments right up until the last few weeks of his life. He loved working. Retirement would have killed him.
I was actually trying not to be alarmist or over state.
I know you are mostly right though.
Don’t forget about the money they have extorted from us for FICA for all of our working careers. I’m OK with working ‘till I drop but I want my money back with the interest it would have earned.
Don’t forget about the money they have extorted from us for FICA for all of our working careers. I’m OK with working ‘till I drop but I want my money back with the interest it would have earned.
Working at what?
CEO until 80 years old? Sure.
Paper pusher, manager, typist, engineer, accountant until you are 80? It’s possible. Most cushy office jobs lilke mine (Civil Engineer) can be done until your eyesight fails or you get extreme carpal tunnel.
Or Doctor/Veterinary until 80? Sure.
Dig ditches until you are 80? Really?
Hump steel as an ironworker until you are 80? Are you kidding me.
Do you want to be a waitress on your feet all day until 80 yrs old? Really?
Do you want to install HVAC components at 79 years old? Sounds like fun.
Do you want to be climing power poles at 81? Are you kidding?
How about hauling baskets on a crab boat at 82 yrs old? Not going to happen.
How about oil roughneck at 80 years old? No.
Long haul trucker at 80? Possibly but not if your eyesight/reaction time is bad or your bowels/prostate are shot.
You see, there are all manner of white collar jobs you can do at 70 years old, some of them at peak performance since your experience is at its peak.
But is this realistic for most blue collar jobs. Not on your life. And they are the ones that are paid less and save less and have worse benefits.
Just not going to happen. This is pure hooey. The article author is living in a white collar dream world where he can work till he drops. For a lot of people, they hit disability from back injuries and other work related causes, long before they drop.
Have some pity for them. They worked far harder than us white collar folks ever did.
Thanks, you expressed it a whole lot better than I. And not only is it a question of decent human compassion and awareness, it is a theme we cannot let the liberals hijack for themselves. “Working til you drop” may impress Thurston Howell III, but if conservatism gets too associated with it, we will lose. And we will deserve to lose if we cannot come up with a better future for our nation.
A 62 yr old friend, an electronics engineer in the Nashville area, cannot get hired and is losing his home in June. He's not ready to give up and retire.
He was illegally terminated (age discrimination) as ruled by the EEOC which let him collect unemployment for a time. He got some bad and costly legal advice regarding his rights and didn't think it'd be so difficult to find a new job with his experience.
He was replaced by a 30-something he'd recently hired. He realizes his mistake was hiring someone as competent as he was.
This will become a larger problem as retirement age rises. We will see more seniors who aren't ready or "able" to retire unable to keep or find work. That's another major flaw in the sliding scale "fix" for Social Security. The economy isn't vibrant enough to support the wider population, let alone the aging demographic who will be among the first axed at the next downturn citing costs.
These people who've worked 40 years need a way to live, and not end up subsisting on welfare or undermining their retirement income/options by having to take Social Security (or pension, etc) early.
Wait until you are in your sixties. Its fortunate you have good health. Not everyone is so fortunate.
As for poor planning, when I started working years ago, SS was solvent and the economic issues facing us today were not apparent.
If there were no SS and I didn’t have to contribute to the “Ponzi” scheme, I could have invested that money in instruments of my choice.
And planning on an employer/employee funded pension is simply not poor planning. Its the way things are done - or were done.
I would continue working were I fortunate enought to have secured a position I enjoyed. Not the case. If I were a riflesmith I would work until I dropped or couldn’t see anymore. But as an office type employee, there is limited enjoyment in my job. I look forward to being able to leave - whenever that happens but it looks further and furthere i the distance - if ever.
Try 50 years old..
Ya walk in the door, and the employer immediately sees someone who needs a good salary and medical benefits etc.
You'd have a better chance of juggling flaming chain saws while roller skating.
Those 50 or over, if they had a good job and lost it, for the most part, they are absolutely screwed.
Standard of living plummeting, economy circling the drain, massive age discrimination in the work place, cut hours, no medical benefits, millions lost their homes, businesses, retirements, and....
Now it's suggested the older people work until they drop dead on the job?
Why am I not surprised by these lunatic, asinine articles?
I just turned 65 this month. I started drawing SS when I turned 62 and have already collected over 20% more than whatever I put in.
The question should be, whobis going to pay for your lifestyle? If you can afford to retire on your own, great! Do not point a gun at me or my children demanding that we pay for your retirement.
That is the point. I will die working. There will be no choice for mr or most of my generation.
The question should be, whobis going to pay for your lifestyle? If you can afford to retire on your own, great! Do not point a gun at me or my children demanding that we pay for your retirement.
That is the point. I will die working. There will be no choice for mr or most of my generation.
Trying to put a happy face on 70 and 80 year olds asking, “Do yoiu want fries with that?” is not my idea of your golden years.
Those jobs will go to college grads, anyway.
Also have to consider that once you get close to retirement age, employers start looking for reasons to fire you. They want to avoid having to pay retirement pensions.
Try 50 years old..
Ya walk in the door, and the employer immediately sees someone who needs a good salary and medical benefits etc.
You’d have a better chance of juggling flaming chain saws while roller skating.
Those 50 or over, if they had a good job and lost it, for the most part, they are absolutely screwed.
Yup. I remember Archie Bunker. I think his age in ‘All In The Family’ was 50-55. And he was constantly fearful of losing his job to a younger person because he was too old.
The question should be, whobis going to pay for your lifestyle? If you can afford to retire on your own, great! Do not point a gun at me or my children demanding that we pay for your retirement.
That is the point. I will die working.
People pay into FICA all their lives. How do you come to the conclusion that they are forcing you to support them?
Anyone that swallows this horse crap deserves to drop dead on the job at 70 years old.
Trying to put a happy face on 70 and 80 year olds asking, "Do you want fries with that?" is not my idea of your golden years.
70 years old an working at McChicken Licken?
Does that come with a lobotomy?
FICA is a tax. The money was spent the second you and I paid it in. The money is gone, and if someone receives SS, they are paid by current workers. The is no lock box, the money was spent.
I’ve read that the average age in the early 1900’s in our country was upper 40’s.....
I guess you’re a victim.
Well, when I do retire, I want to find another job if I can.
Selling guns, working as a range master, buidling rifles, selling reloads, etc.
That would be nice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.