Well the terms “generation of grasping seniors” and “tantrums of elderly adolescents” kinda makes it personal, at least to me. I can with the same few keystrokes paint government employees as deadheads and goldbricks who wouldn’t last ‘till the water got hot in the private sector. They’re not worth near what they’re paid, let alone deserving of their fat pensions and taxpayer funded medical plans.
See how easy that was?
As I noted upthread, I and other SS claimants gave up something of value (money) in exchange for a future payment. It is a legal claim and until the law is changed, has standing. Just like anyone else who works for government in any capacity. They give up labor in exchange for a paycheck.
As for the “needs of those who are working,” again I suggest you ask some of the other recipients of government money to belly up to the bar, instead of calling down Hell on SS claimants only.
I suggest you quit worrying about who’s fault it is and start worrying out what will happen to you personally when:
1. The government money stops
2. Inflation makes the government money worthless.
One of those two things will happen. And fairness ain’t got nothing to do with it.
Ok, let me phrase it this way.
All those claiming some sort of government benefits were promised such by men long dead. Many of them (not all, but many of those on SS) had multiple opportunities (starting with Reagan) to reform the system. Most of them (maybe not you) said “ITS MY MONEY! I DON’T WANT ANY RISK!” Which is pretty much what you have done.
SS is not a payment, it is not a contract, it is (by legal ruling) a tax. I am sure you paid in a huge amount of SS taxes, as have I. I am positive you were told repeatedly that it was “your” money (never mind the law, that it is not your money it is the Federal Government’s money now). So when the various privatization ideas came up, many (again maybe not you) said “no thank you. It is to risky”. The looked at the up and downs of the stock market, and bet that the pyramid scheme would continue.
Except now, almost a hundred years in, we are out of money. Now the recipients of Government benefits (again, SS is not by law payment for any activity, it is a tax used to fund a benefit), are demanding by the point of a gun that they get paid. Demanding it from people who know that they will never get the benefit themselves. Demanding it as the military falls apart, the infrastructure degrades, and whole areas of the Southwest pass out of Federal and State control into various drug cartels hands.
As I have said. Everyone is fiscally conservative, until it is their turn. SS remains the single largest unfunded liability out there. We could (and we MUST) cut down government pensions at the federal, state, and local levels. We need to streamline how government operates. But at the end of the day we are looking at a $40 Trillion short fall. How do we pay for that? How do we handle the huge amount of people who depend on the Government for either a paycheck or a benefit check?
If what I have been hearing is correct, I fully expect the Fedgov to seize my (and everyone else’s) 401K. Which is something my grandfather warned me about. Already I have heard people talking about the “Subsidy” that is tax deferment from the 401K. Sooner or later, all those people who say “It is MY MONEY! AND I WANT IT NOW!” will come looking at me and mine for more.
So it is personal for me also. I feel for you abb, you were lied to. Never mind what the law said, you believed that SS was a forced savings plan, and are very upset that the con men are long gone.
I hope that the people of this country will someday deal with all of them.
I know that time and nature will someday deal with all of them.