Right most of them are clueless as to how the system works. I say that as someone who receives SS and Medicare. In 1950 there were 16 workers for every retiree; today there are 3.3, and by 2030 there will be just two workers for every retiree. By 2030 one in every five residents of this country will be 65 or older--twice what it is now. Those "surpluses" are going to be long gone in 20 years. SS has been running in the red since 2010 and Medicare Part A (HI Trust Fund) since 2008.
Most people don't realize that Medicare Parts B and D are taking more and more money out of the General Fund. By law, the premiums paid for Medicare Parts B and D (SMI) cover only 25% of the costs of the programs. The remaining 75% is paid by the General Fund. In FY-2011 the GF paid $222 billion for Medicare Parts B and D. These amounts will continue to increase as 10,000 baby boomers a day retire and will continue to so for the next 20 years.
Second: They see on a daily basis the excess, duplication, waste and outright fraud in all aspects of our federal government with no concerted sustainability analysis being undertaken on that spending.
There is no doubt plenty of waste, fraud, and abuse in these programs as well as other government programs. But the idea that some deus ex machina is going to make these programs more efficient and cost effective is smoking something. And now we are adding another huge entitlement program, Obamacare, that will increase the cost of government. It is pure insanity.
Third: After a lifetime of working and playing by the rules as they were at the time, they see themselves now unfairly and unjustly cast as the primary problem.
Yep, they want their stuff, but the reality is that they are getting much more out of these Ponzi schemes than they contributed to them. I am receiving a federal pension that I started receiving at age 56. I have already received ten time more in payments than I contributed and I am just 69.
I am familiar with what Germany did to rein in its social benefit programs. They cut benefits to the elderly. It was a painful decision, but they have a society that accepts such decisions in the interests of the national good. I doubt that will happen in this country. We will react like the Greeks when their seniors received 20% reductions in their pensions. We can't even come up with $100 billion a year in real cuts (sequestration) from a $3.7 trillion annual budget.
People receiving Social Security benefits may have gotten old, but they have not gotten stupid. They know we have problems that must be solved and most are willing to do their part but they are not going to go to the front of the line.
SS is actually fairly easy to resolve in terms of making it solvent. You must cut benefits and/or increase payroll taxes. It really isn't that much of a problem. Personally, I would like to see most of it privatized leaving a small defined benefit program to cover disability and survivor benefits. It can be phased in thereby reducing the USG's future liability and allow individuals to create wealth for themselves.
The people who are at the back of the line are the young and future generations. We are stealing from them and creating a huge burden that will cause a decline in their standard of living.
When the "Spending Reform Line" is formed, Social Security beneficiaries want to see the food stamp people, the federal education industry, the illegal immigrant group, the unemployment compensation programs, the federal grant programs, the foreign aid programs, the military industrial complex, the bailed out bankers, and a multitude of other questionable and wasteful spending beneficiaries in line ahead of them.
They will all be fighting over the scraps of a failed economy. There are currently 57 million on SS and 47 million on Medicare. But there are also large numbers on food stamps (48 million), Medicaid (70 million counting the CHIPs program), unemployment, crony capitalists receiving government contracts etc. Counting state and local government along with the federal government, government expenditures amount to 42% of the GDP. About one out of every two people in this country receive a government check of some sort. And Obamacare will add to those numbers once it is fully implemented. It will add another 18 million to Medicaid.
Immigration, legal and illegal, is killing us. We bring in 1.2 million legal immigrants a year. 25% of the adults lack even a high school degree. 57% of immigrant headed households with children are on welfare. We are importing poverty. Add to that number the 300,000 to 400,000 anchor babies born each year to illegal aliens. Most of these children are on Medicaid and food stamps.
Unless and until that happens, I am afraid the raw political power reflected in their numbers will prevail.
You are exactly right. I blame the voters more than the politicians who are giving them exactly what they want. There still is no political will to make the painful decisions that will be necessary to get our fiscal house in order. It will take a collapse to bring the message home the same way it did in Greece. And even then the Greeks still wanted their stuff.