Social InSecurity

I had considered writing something for Blog Action Day, but I just couldn’t bring myself to write on environmental topics considering the very important meaning of today’s date. October 15, 2007. The very first baby boomer, today became the first one to apply for Social Security retirement benefits. Her name is Kathleen Casey-Kirschling and she was born at 12::00:01 on January 1, 1946. She’s a retired school teacher and has decided to apply for early SS benefits. She and her husband have a vacation home in Florida and a 42-foot trawler to shuttle them back and forth between there and their home in Maryland. Her reasoning for taking SS now?

“I could be dead next year,” she says, “so why not take it this year?”

With her, the deluge of 80 million boomer retirees begins. Grey-haired conservatives turn liberal at the very mention of Social Security. “The government took my money,” they say “so I will draw out every penny they took and then some!” Social Security is the ultimate entitlement program. Why save for your future when Uncle Sam bill bail you out? Heck, go ahead and save for the future and tap Uncle Sam for all he’s got to support your lifestyle. It’s there, so you might as well take it, right? It’s amazing how deadly a grip GREED has on the people.

Social Security was supposed to be a safety net; not your personal retirement plan. Every penny you draw out comes from the hard work of your children and grandchildren. When they retire, there will be nothing left for them to draw. The current statistics show that the Social Security fund will start paying out more than it takes in 2017 and will be completely exhausted of all funds in 2041. Medicare is already paying out more than it takes in and will be completely exhausted of all funds in 2019. And that’s without the boomers tapping in. One of two things will happen: either the boomers will get a great wakeup call when their benefits get reduced or stop completely, or the rest of us will have to endure increased taxes to pay for it all. I guarantee that AARP will never opt for #1.

If it were a private enterprise, Social Security would be shut down as an illegal pyramid scam. It is simply not possible to constantly pay the outgoers more than they put in. The house of cards will fall one day, leaving a bunch of workers who depended on it stranded. That day will be very ugly, and I hope that I’m not around to see it.

It is not the government’s job to babysit you and make sure that you save for your future. It is not the government’s job to bail you out when you make stupid decisions (don’t even get me started on the sub-prime mortgage mess again). Your great-grandparents didn’t have social security, 401(k)s, pensions or IRAs. They saved. Because they had to. Because no one was going to do it for them. Because it was the right thing to do. Inject some sanity into this mess: tell your congress critters that you want private investment funds NOW.

*sigh* ……. just one person shouting into the wilderness of obscurity.

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