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 ...
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.
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.