We who are retired or are nearing retirement are receiving lots of criticism for becoming a drain on the US society, financially and otherwise. How about examining the WHOLE story behind those criticisms as well as the causes, obligations and consequences with more emphasis on truth? Or are you only interested in looking at us as a problem best fixed by us simply going away?
Did that last sentence sound goofy? In fact, it reflects not only what many younger-than-45 folks think but it is even being preached in at least one elementary school. A teacher in Powell Wyoming recently told his/her students the following. We have economic problems we have to fix and we'd get it done better if older people would just sit down and shut up. He/she also then added, we'd be better off if they'd all just die. This was reported by the child's Mom to media but you likely won't hear about it because it makes even the liberal media squeamish.
The point is, this teacher said something many Americans feel the same way about but are reluctant to vocalize so blatantly. In fact, similar statements by adults have made it into The Media. You know that thinking exists and it's becoming more common every day.
There's lots I could say about the morality of the teacher and a growing segment of society that feels that way but I won't. Moralizing about it doesn't advance understanding we must reach about this issue so we can do the right thing about our economic problems. How about some history first?
All the social programs that are in trouble are products of the progressive, mostly liberal, agenda. Democrats have been the driving force behind the creation as well as mismanagement of all of them. When Democratic presidents and congressmen sold these to their colleagues, it was done with a plea to their 'social justice sensitivities'. And it was done with a guarantee(!) that they were affordable (because they had models and data that proved it beyond a reasonable doubt!) even though there were many rational voices being raised to the contrary. Because progressives were in control of things, the rational voices were drowned out. Then reality happened and those Republicans who sounded alarms in the beginning and increasingly so over the years were called insensitive alarmists.
Before I go further, does any of this sound familiar as if we're heard this recently ... like history repeating itself? At what point does, "I keep doing the same thing over and over again with bad results that get worse every time" start to tell you that maybe history and the results suggest it's not such a good thing to pursue after all or should be pursued significantly differently? When does it begin to make sense that maybe those on the right of the political spectrum do have something to offer that could keep us from getting the country into such trouble? Maybe we should work with them more because what we've been doing for 100 years(!) isn't working! Maybe we shouldn't act so sure of ourselves because EVERY time we did it in the past we were wrong!
To get to the correct solution it is completely logical to look with skepticism on the 'agenda' that got us here. How can we fix it if we don't take the time to understand what we did wrong AND what history suggests will be the real consequences of possible alternative solutions?
Am I nervous about President Obama and Democrats/Progressives 'fixing' this mess without any input from Republicans? Let's see, the things that got us into this mess were progressive creations and were mismanaged largely by Democrats. And the current solution is to do the same thing on an even grander scale! Hmmmm. Do I really have ANY reason to be nervous? If you say no, what planet or reality are you from?
Important note: notice that what got us into this trouble is NOT the people receiving what the government decided to give them! It's the government that created and mismanaged these programs. They created these programs and told us to use them, guaranteeing(!) that they'd remain solvent (would not add to the national debt) and secure. Now these programs are in trouble and it's the fault of the people receiving the benefits? Huh? And the solution is for those receiving those benefits (that they didn't really ask for in the first place!) to: 1) be quiet and let the same people who broke the programs 'fix' them doing the same kind of things and/or 2) just die so they stop causing problems the government created. Huh! I say, HUH? What kind of nonsense logic is that?
Consider the point of view of a recent retiree. We didn't ask for these programs. Many of us would have preferred taking care of our own retirement planning. But the government gave us no choice. They TOOK money from us our entire lives to put into these programs with the promise(!) that when we retired we'd get it back. We had no choice. Money we could have put into retirement savings/investments was taken from us. The government PREVENTED us from saving it for our retirement. Now that we're retired, the government and many citizens are not only saying that the programs are going bankrupt and we won't get back what they told(!) us we would but many are saying the problem is OUR fault and even that the solution is for us to die. At the very least, just shut up and quietly take whatever others decide what to do about it. What kind of logic is THAT?
Having said that, I agree that the solution appears to require we retirees get less back than we've been promised all these years. I'm willing to consider it and I think it should be on the table. I ask you, isn't it fair of us retirees to accept that? WE didn't cause this problem but we're willing to be part of the solution. How about you? For those of you who say WE caused this problem and we should just die to fix this problem, I say maybe you're the ones that should shut your pie-hole, hmmmmm?
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