If the Boomers really wanted to help their children and grandchildren out they would stop calling SS a "right" and volunteer to help the situation.
Darlin, we don't have enough money left to "help the situation." As I said, we've paid and paid and paid. Many of us will never get to retire in the first place. If we don't have a "right" after paying in for 50 years, who does?
I took care of my "retirement" two years ago, when we welcomed son # 2 into the world. By the time he finishes high school, I'll be pushing 70!
Winning the lottery and working part-time at Luby's are two major planks of my retirement program!!!
One major issue has not been discussed with the pending retirement of boomers: the unemployment rate is going to vanish, and there will be too many jobs to fill.
Darlin, we don't have enough money left to "help the situation." As I said, we've paid and paid and paid. Many of us will never get to retire in the first place. If we don't have a "right" after paying in for 50 years, who does?
Actually, in a non-sustainable pyramid scheme, nobody has a "right" to anything.
When the pyramid-shaped house of cards collapses, everyone after that point will be left holding the bag. That comes under the "Life Aint Fair Clause".
Both the American and the European welfare states were designed with the assumption of at least a steady population of productive taxpayers. However, the Baby Boom generation produced less children and 40% of all Americans pay little or no taxes. It will be literally impossible for tax-paying members of Generations X and Generation Y to support the welfare state once Baby Boomers retire and demand that the U.S. Government to finance their retirement.
I was born in 1954 and I am planning my retirement with the assumption that I will not recieve a single dollar from Social Security.