As I recall it's the kind of thing you defend a lot here on DU.
Today's seniors paid for their parents. Now it is the turn of our children to pay our monthly Social Security. That is the way we do it in America. Social Security is simply the urbanization of an age-old tradition which is state in the Ten Commandments as "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you." The meaning of that Commandment is that taking care of your parents is essential if you are to have a healthy, secure society.
And let me tell you, as one who is now 68, we went through this same unemployment before.
When my husband and I were 35, we had no savings and were starting our family. Only after our children were grown, were we able to save any significant amount.
This right-wing propaganda straight out of Pete Peterson's lie fabrication plant.
Very, very few of my friends who are seniors have anything near $170,000 in assets.
Warren Buffet, I'm sure, has far more. That's how they get this number.
I studied this in the 1990s. At that time, the average retiree had less than $10,000 in savings. This figure is misleading.
Interesting how they compare the alleged savings of today's seniors with those of seniors in, I think, 1984. In 1984, seniors were very likely to have work-related or union-related pensions. During the 1970s, the ERISA Act was enacted and people began to have 401(K)s.
You cannot compare a system in which individuals save for retirement with a system in which workers put money into a common fund and receive a pension from that fund with today's method of saving. Comparing 1984's seniors' savings to those of today's seniors is misleading.
Let's say you receive the average Social Security benefit which is less than $1200 per month. Let's say you also have $170,000. Right now, you receive at most maybe 1.4% interest on your savings. Most likely some of that $170,000 is actually the market value of your house or the equity you have in a house. If that is so, you probably pay $3,000 or so per year in property taxes. You also pay a minimum of $100 per month and probably much more for your Medicare supplemental insurance and co-pays. Medicare is not free for most seniors. Then you have upkeep on your house and insurance for your house and car or renter's insurance just like everyone else.
If you are 65 and live and additional 20 years, you actually have your Social Security of $14,500 per year plus maybe 1.4% of the $170,000 and that $170,000 divided by 20 years gives you an additional $8,500 per year or a total income of just over $22,000.
That is probably considerably less than the income of the average 35-year-old.
Of course people who earned very little during their working lives will have far less when they retire.
But think of it. $22,000 is between $8 and $9 per hour. That is just about minimum wage for a full-time employee in California.
http://www.dir.ca.gov/iwc/minimumwagehistory.htmThe reality is, of course, that most seniors want to leave money to their children, so they won't spend the $170,000 except in emergencies.
And the reality also is, that most young families would prefer to pay into Social Security considering that the alternative is having your parents move in with you and your chldren.
Being able to enjoy retirement is part of the definition of being middle class in America.
Prior to Social Security, the majority of Americans lived on and farmed their own land. If they worked hard during their youth, they could sell their land or receive a share of the profits from the farming on the land of their children.
During the 1930s, farms were foreclosed in huge numbers, and many, many Americans were forced out of their properties, out of the properties that would have been their source of income once they could no longer work. The numbers of very poor elderly people was overwhelming and disturbing to everyone. That is why Social Security was instituted. As people moved into urban living, they did not have the ability to invest in property and save for their senior years in that way.
This anti-Social Security propaganda just makes me sick.
When we were young, we went through very difficult times. That is a normal part of being young. My husband had a PhD. Nixon cut funding for universities and my husband had no job.
Young people today are having a hard time, just as we did then. That is what Occupy Wall Street is about.
I note that young people have enormous economic power but do not use it. If they stopped buying I-Phones and similar electronic equipment unless made in the USA, they could change our entire economy. Once they recognize what power they have, they will do just fine.
Every time a young person buys some electronic equipment made overseas, he contributes to the high unemployment in the US. Older people are not buying that stuff much.