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No reasoning with the elderly on issue of Social Security
Salt Lake Tribune ^ | 5/24/05 | Ruben Navarrette

Posted on 05/25/2005 8:42:08 AM PDT by qam1

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To: qam1
No matter what fix we're talking about - partial privatization, raising the retirement age, means testing so millionaires forfeit benefits, tying benefits to inflation rather than wages, etc. - the most ferocious opposition comes from the demographic that won't be affected either way by any proposal being discussed at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue: Americans already 55 and over.

Of course this is incorrect when one looks at it realistically. Those things in bold will certainly be done by lying politicians.

21 posted on 05/25/2005 8:59:17 AM PDT by Protagoras (The goal is power, the tool is deceit.)
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To: qam1
the most ferocious opposition comes from the demographic that won't be affected either way by any proposal being discussed at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue: Americans already 55 and over.

According to the census, the over 65 crowd is the wealthiest demographic in the country. When you start having one segment of the population hogging up a bigger and bigger chunk of federal resources, you're going to have a backlash.

22 posted on 05/25/2005 8:59:44 AM PDT by A Ruckus of Dogs
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To: dirtboy

Yes, I can't say I disagree with a thing that the writer says in this pro-Bush article. Thank you for posting it, its nice to see that some people understand what is going on.


23 posted on 05/25/2005 9:01:34 AM PDT by babble-on
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To: qam1

The reason senior citizens are concerned about changes in SS is because the government has been lying to them for longer than younger people. If any politician would own up and tell the truth, that the "contribution" is really just a general fund tax, and that the government would have to replace the income if the system was "privitized" (2004- SS contributions of $522 billion of the 2.92 trillion budget or about 18%)and growing at an increased % rate at about 4% annually, due to be equal in 2018 leaving $26 trillion in unfunded liabilities, then and only then, will the people take a serious look at the "system", and "trust" that politician (oxy-moron) to do what is right for Americans rather than what is "self-preservationist" for himself.


24 posted on 05/25/2005 9:02:01 AM PDT by CIDKauf (No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.)
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To: henkster
Confiscate? Very likely.

However, the even the weasels of Washington cannot confiscate what they cannot find. No one **has** to keep assets in the US, right? And setting up another identity, say Australian for preference, is child's play (if one doesn't intend to live in Australia, at least).

Merely offering a thought here...

25 posted on 05/25/2005 9:02:26 AM PDT by SAJ
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To: CIDKauf

The seniors should also be honest with themselves and admit they are on welfare. SS is nothing but a welfare system by a different name.


26 posted on 05/25/2005 9:03:59 AM PDT by CSM ( If the government has taken your money, it has fulfilled its Social Security promises. (dufekin))
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To: qam1
Now a days it's the old man,
He's got all the money.
And the young man?!
Ain't got nothing in the world these days!

 


27 posted on 05/25/2005 9:05:53 AM PDT by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: Dubya

I think he's correct in his analysis of old people in this country. I've even heard old people on the radio saying they don't give a damn whether their grandchildren have to pay 20-30-or even 40% of their pay to keep their grandparents in SS money. The funny thing is that these 75+ year olds never really contributed all of that much to the mysterious fund. Rates have pretty much stayed the same, but the income limits have risen dramatically in the last 20 years. I'm 55 years old and I've personally had over $200K taken out of may pay over the last 20 years for Social Security -- double that if you count the amount my employers have paid on my behalf. I would have been happy to have had the opportunity to invest that money in an account with my name on it.

I guess I'm in the minority with the 55 years and over crowd, because I believe that we should let younger (even older) people invest part of the funding in accounts for themselves. If it takes increasing my taxes for the next 10 years to enable this, then okay. Even if it reduces my SS some in the future, I still say okay. I've got grandchildren and I'd like them to reap some benefit from the SS money that is currently being pissed away on SS, SSI, and Medicare.

Regardless, the author of the article was dead-on accurate about the "Greatest Generation."


28 posted on 05/25/2005 9:06:59 AM PDT by Gaffer
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To: qam1
But there's no reasoning with the elderly on this issue. I know. I tried.

It is a difficult task, O citizens, to make speeches to the belly, which has no ears.

Plutarch
Life of Marcus Cato

29 posted on 05/25/2005 9:07:48 AM PDT by Plutarch
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To: CSM
The seniors should also be honest with themselves and admit they are on welfare

"Free lunch? Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!!!!!"

30 posted on 05/25/2005 9:11:43 AM PDT by andy58-in-nh
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To: A Ruckus of Dogs
According to the census, the over 65 crowd is the wealthiest demographic in the country.

It is highly unevenly distributed however, with a large percentage having nothing to show for 45 years of "working" life.
31 posted on 05/25/2005 9:12:08 AM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (Give Them Liberty Or Give Them Death! - Islam Delenda Est! - Rumble thee forth...)
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To: Gaffer

Thanks for the post.
I don't know of anything stopping anyone from investing any way they want to.
I have to wonder how smart is a person who only invest a small part of what they would pay in SS.


32 posted on 05/25/2005 9:12:21 AM PDT by Dubya (Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,but by me)
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To: qam1
They didn't seem to care a whit about the financial strain that future taxpayers will be put under to make that happen.

So much for the Greatest Generation.

33 posted on 05/25/2005 9:13:52 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: qam1
No matter what fix we're talking about - partial privatization, raising the retirement age, means testing so millionaires forfeit benefits, tying benefits to inflation rather than wages, etc. - the most ferocious opposition comes from the demographic that won't be affected either way by any proposal being discussed at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue: Americans already 55 and over.

Stated as simply as possible, the overwhelming majority of them are functional morons. If ever there is a minimum standard required to participate in the workings of government, as in voting, most of them would be disqualified.

And they all vote.

Any wonder at the sad transformation of our country into a prosperous "third world"?
Our country continues to survive in spite of them. How, I am still mystified about.
Save your flames. I are one of them, in the clear minority.

34 posted on 05/25/2005 9:14:04 AM PDT by Publius6961 (The most abundant things in the universe are hydrogen, ignorance and stupidity.)
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To: qam1
So did the fact that these seniors had convinced themselves that there was no ''crisis'' in Social Security because the best estimates are that benefits will continue to be paid out for the foreseeable future. They didn't seem to care a whit about the financial strain that future taxpayers will be put under to make that happen. This is the real crisis

This is one consistent thing I've noticed in trying to explain the reality to this crowd. I think it's the kind of denial a spouse often uses when they know that they're are living a lie, but have clung to it for so long, that they just won't believe it.

They often end with the phrase, " Well I won't be around, so who care s?". And I think, Well our children will, don't you care what you're leaving for them ? .

In ther interests of full disclosure, I am in the late baby boom generation. I fully expect to get nothing- and I wouldn't want it at the expense of my children anyway.

35 posted on 05/25/2005 9:17:07 AM PDT by Red Boots
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To: qam1
...the most ferocious opposition comes from the demographic that won't be affected ...

Possibly this demographic has had more experience with being affected by things that "will not affect" them.

36 posted on 05/25/2005 9:17:28 AM PDT by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: CSM

However, the true beneficiaries were the seniors that recieved benefits without paying into the system...the start of it all. My Momo remembers the problems following the Great Depression and the war that undeiably ended it. My Uncle (84 years old) refers to things as "before the war" or "after the war".


37 posted on 05/25/2005 9:18:34 AM PDT by CIDKauf (No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.)
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To: qam1
One thing that might help with this situation is if Congress could be made to inform SS "contributors" on a regular basis exactly how much of the money they put in goes toward their own retirement, and how much goes toward other purposes (including other people's retirements). That might awaken other demographics within the electorate.
38 posted on 05/25/2005 9:23:23 AM PDT by inquest (FTAA delenda est)
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To: Gaffer

It is going to come down to an explicit or implicit strike.


In Europe the producers just stop working or move. We should have a national strike on the 15th of April.


39 posted on 05/25/2005 9:23:57 AM PDT by fooman (Get real with Kim Jung Mentally Ill about proliferation)
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To: Doctor Stochastic
Possibly this demographic has had more experience with being affected by things that "will not affect" them.

Example?

40 posted on 05/25/2005 9:25:44 AM PDT by inquest (FTAA delenda est)
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