Calling All Babyboomers - Be Ready to Drink Koolaid for the good

[leftyladyfrommo]

of your nation.

Babyboomers are a huge drag on our economy and our very existence threatens the future of our country. So says the Fed. today.

So I figure that we will be asked to drink koolaid in order to save the nation.

Really, I'm not sure how we fix this problem. There is no way to keep all of us from getting old and needing our benefits - which we have paid into this govt for years and years. And besides, if Bush hadn't spent billions and billions in Iraq there probably wouldn't even be this problem.

[Gormy Cuss]

1. You first.

}(


As if it's a big surprise that boomer retirement would have an effect on the economy. We're already getting pushed to older ages before we qualify for Social Security. I predict next up will be Medicare.

[leftyladyfrommo]

2. I figure that they will just let us die early.

I get sick of being blamed for everything.

[InkAddict]

3. Why should I drink the Kool-Aid when it's my parents' fault! n/t

[GalleryGod]

4. Yeah, Sure!

"Take all you want...give nothing back!"

[leftyladyfrommo]

5. That is so not true. We all gave so much back.

We were the ones who died in Viet Nam. We were the ones who gave the world such beautiful music. We were the ones who developed the very best in technology. We were the ones who paid enormous taxes all of our working lives.

And now we are made to feel like we should just all go jump off a cliff like a bunch of lemmings.

[Courtesy Flush]

7. Don't understand the "give nothing back" statement

We worked at productive jobs for a generation. We were the cops, the artists, and teachers. We pulled our load (I speak in the past tense, but I'm not retirement age, and by some definitions, I don't count as a baby boomer, since I was born in '59).

What are we not giving back?

[leftyladyfrommo]

9. I know. I worked and paid taxes all of my life.

I have paid thousands and thousands in school taxes and I don't have children.

We are really getting a bad rap.

And we may all end up as street people before this is all over.

[rug]

6. Don't worry, lack of health insurance will solve the Fed's problem.

[AngryAmish]

8. Social Security is the only thing you "pay into"

On average the every retiree gets all of their money out (including interest) in 4 to 4.5 years. Retirement age is 65. For everyone who lives to 65 expectation of life is 18.4 years. (This is going up but not a lot.)

Do retirees stop taking benefits after they have received "their" benefits? No.

Medicare is a "pay-as-you-go" program.

The solution? In my view retirement should be 70-72. That would solve the problem. But it would never happen in light of the Boomers getting on in years and their well known "gimmie mine" attitude.

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. That's a great idea except that most people can't work until they

are 70. A lot of people can't work in their sixties. And a lot of companies simply don't want people who are that old working for them any more. A lot of people lose their jobs in their 50's - I did. And trying to start over at that age is pretty tough.

People who are old simply don't have the strength to keep up the pace. And 60's are when a lot of health problems start to show up.

I think my parents and most of their friends were all retired by 60.

[Courtesy Flush]

19. Oh god! Just shoot me!!!

If I had to work until I was 70 I'd have no reason to live!

BUT, I don't pay into Social Security, so I won't be a burden to that system. I'll be able to retire at age 50 or 51 because I already live frugally, and my wife and I have always saved for early retirement.

I intend to retire while I still can enjoy my life, not be a slave to a job until I'm ready to die! Few people in my family live to be 70, so I'd sooner die now than push the civil service pencil behind this desk until I'm ready for the grave.

[Richardo]

10. Again: This boomer prefers Fizzies to Kool-Aid

[noonwitch]

11. Us X-ers have to open nursing homes for them

Tye-dyed wallpaper, Doors music instead of Muzak, it'll be great. We'll take good care of them and make their last years fun for them, while taking all their social security money for ourselves!

[leftyladyfrommo]

13. Oh, please. Tie Die wall paper? I want mandalas and black light

posters on my walls.

And I really prefer Satie to the Doors. But Janis will do in a pinch.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

18. Thanks for the hospitality, X-ers, but ...

when we BBers retire, ...

ALL YOUR DRUGS ARE BELONG TO US!

Now, where did I leave my bifocals ...

[Burma Jones]

14. Nah, just the Boomers that didn't make a pile of money

It's going to get ugly. The same reason GM and Ford can't afford their pension plans will soon affect SS and Medicare.

I assume I'll never see a single Social Security payment, so I just chalk that up to a tax for caring for our elders. My retirement is well funded on my own.

I foresee the problem being solved by cutting payments, increasing the retirement age and basically providing lower income elderly with the lowest quality health care. The gap between rich and non-rich is going to grow and will prove to be the death of a lot of Boomers that did not make and save a lot of money.

[leftyladyfrommo]

15. There are lots of us boomers who did not make a ton of money.

I worked all my life for not all that much. When I got out of college women were not in great demand for the better jobs.

[Burma Jones]

16. Unless people wake up and end Corporatism

then the divide we see already will just get worse. We are seeing the decline of the USA as evidenced, as it has been evidenced in other great powers, by the "Rats Deserting The Sinking Ship" mentality of those profiting most from Globalization. We have a winner take all society, and that's a society that has little faith in its future.

[leftyladyfrommo]

17. I don't see that happening anytime soon.

The problem is that young people just don't see it coming. Never do. And then in a flash you aren't young anymore and corporations just go on without you. Don't want you.

Young people should save everything they can before they get into their forties. After that you just don't know what is going to happen.

Women should save everything they can from the day they start to work.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

20. Boomers can get changed into excellent Soylent Green

...... hey, it's not as bad as White Castle "sliders"

:)

[Courtesy Flush]

21. Baby boomers know one thing for sure

We've seen an endless string of gloom and doom predictions that never materialized. The year 2000 was going to look post-apocalyptic according to all the predictions we were fed as children.

So excuse me if I'm not the first in line for Koolaid. We'll be fine. Thanks for you concern :)

[mzteris]

22. maybe bushco should send

us old-timers to Iraq. That way we could all die off without having to draw social security, and the young people could stay and "build the economy" and not kill "our Country's future"....




:sarcasm: