It’s the age gap, stupid.
USA Today’s article on the “generation gap” in income and wealth has the power to revolutionize media coverage of “income inequality.” It’s not inequality between people in general that’s growing, Dennis Cauchon’s report said – it’s inequality between generations. Young people are delaying careers for more education, marrying later and even getting their inheritances later. Meanwhile, retirees are living longer and living off the payments of those same youngsters.
We haven’t heard this before, apparently, because IRS data “don’t include information on age, race and education,” Cauchon said. While younger generations struggle with getting started, buying homes and paying off student loans, Social Security and Medicare face growing debts and continue to gobble up valuable income.
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So, the MSM is finally admi
Mon, 05/21/2007 - 17:34 ET by robert108So, the MSM is finally admitting that govt social programs "gobble up valuable income"? Of course, they use it to support a class envy argument, but it's still a crack in the facade of the myth that govt social programs are economically viable. Govt is an expense to the private sector.
Its an expense to everyone...
Mon, 05/21/2007 - 17:46 ET by bassndudeIts an expense to everyone...they even tax the social security income of seniors. Some of who have SS as their only source of income.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal!!
Yeah sure
Tue, 05/22/2007 - 06:32 ET by SportPoliticsYeah sure, it couldn't be that the government has taken 3.5 trillion that's supposed to be earning accumulated interest and instead spent it all, and left an IOU in Al Gore's lockbox.
When President Bush said " If they have it in Washington, they will spend it " - and suggested the money should go into stock accounts - ....
So now, supposedly, and I do say supposedly, over the next 75 years, these morons know the shortfall - but - they cannot even predict the next quarter properly let alone next year.
I don't BUY the MASSIVE bs - at all.
CA is now spending more on
Mon, 05/21/2007 - 18:00 ET by JDWCA is now spending more on jails than state colleges.
How many states, in light of the consequences of the global warming crap, are losing tax revenue on gas and subsequently cannot build roads?
Social Security and Medicare, envision the future government slaves.
The public must be capable of cutting back everywhere yet government is exempt. Why?
JDW
News media: Scoreboard for terrorists
The public must be capable of
Mon, 05/21/2007 - 19:47 ET by Darth DutchThe public must be capable of cutting back everywhere yet government is exempt. Why?
Great question and great line. It's the same reason why Congress, regardless of political bent, votes themselves in raises and never pay cuts. It's much easier to spend other people's money. :)
I think their next raise sh
Tue, 05/22/2007 - 01:59 ET by sarcasmoI think their next raise should not happen unless they've cut spending. I also think the current 'automatic' pay raises are both cowardly and unConstitutional (see original 2nd Amendment for why on the second insult. I think the basis for the first one is rather obvious....).
JMR
We need to get craftier
Tue, 05/22/2007 - 02:19 ET by Cool ArrowI think we need to find public officials with a bit more creativity.
For instance...Deport droves of Illegals to Wash DC until they choke on them. Not only that, maybe these Illegals will do jobs American legislators won't do.
Isaiah 32:5-8
The vile person shall be no more called liberal, nor the churl said to be bountiful. For the vile person will speak villainy, and his heart will work iniquity, to practice hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD
How about the 7 billion
Tue, 05/22/2007 - 06:42 ET by SportPoliticsHow about the 7 billion spent in the secret agencies and homeland security on " The dangers of global warming " .
LOL - Yes, our saintly and immensely intelligent government spends 7 billion a year researching the possible dangers to our national security because of " future global warming scenarios" -
I'd like that job. I make up a big fat fantasy about 1,000,000 flooded out po' people on some new waterline on who knows what continent, and calculate how many thousands of troops and transports and air lifts and food and bandages need to be carted to the area - then subtract that from the force response structure, and multiply the required "ready" numbers.
Heck , if I really am a democrat, I just fire up Al Gore's " An Inconvenient Truth" - and calculate the losses to Florida and New York from the movie flooding, and turn in my report to one of Valerie Plames best buds at Arlington central so they can calculate the likelihood that a floating terror nuke could enter by the new unguarded waterways...
Oh believe me, 7 billion won't last very long.
That body temp thermometer and humidity meter under Nanook of the North's underarm when he slept for 3 weeks in his igloo - showed a danger that warmer weather near the north pole has caused an increase in Eskimo sweating, which means that clothing for troops rebuffing an attack from that direction -would require a better goretex design, study cost $144,657,34.
The Generation Gap = American
Mon, 05/21/2007 - 20:29 ET by zfThe Generation Gap = American socalism's latest "achievement." Inequality through legislation.
I don't blame the seniors though, I blame the politicans who created this monstrosity in the first place.
Meanwhile, retirees are livin
Mon, 05/21/2007 - 20:42 ET by bigtimerMeanwhile, retirees are living longer and living off the payments of those same youngsters.
How dare they!
bt I think you were being s
Tue, 05/22/2007 - 05:36 ET by motherbeltbt I think you were being sarcastic. Nevertheless, I will say that I think the writer was not using that as an accusation, but as a fact...because retirees are living longer (as retirees), the program costs more. Many also want to retire sooner than 65. I don't have a problem with people living longer...my father lived to 93 and I am thankful for that every day. But I do have a problem with people not planning for their retirement and expecting SS to take care of everything. What are we going to do when the number of retirees is greater than the number of workers paying taxes to support them? How much of a younger worker's pay can the government take to give to another person?
When SS was initiated, most older folks were taken care of by their families, and SS was a help with that. It was never meant to be the sole support of any retiree. It's like the "living wage" concept. The minimum wage was never meant to support a family of 4, which seems to be becoming the standard now.
We need to address these issues now, honestly and in an atmosphere that doesn't demonize people for saying the current system is unsupportable.
Unfortunately, politicians go
Tue, 05/22/2007 - 08:05 ET by dscottUnfortunately, politicians got hooked on the investments funds of Social Security and looked at them instead as surplus funds to be spent. The question is quickly becoming moot, in 2017 the so called surplus will disappear and then Congress will no longer be able to buy votes anymore with their ear marks.
It seems that a number of issues are coming to a head here in the next ten years: Social Security, Immigration (350 million in 2025), Energy Consumption ($10/gal gas), Terrorism (fighting there or here)... It will be interesting to see who is holding the grenade when it goes off in their faces.
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius
Social Security was actuarial
Mon, 05/21/2007 - 22:22 ET by MikeBSocial Security was actuarially unsound from its inception.
I hope everyone who is at least 25 years from retirement to open and fully fund a Roth IRA right now. If your employer offers a 401k that they match contributions, fund that first. But, for now, the Roth IRA grows tax free, and the distributions are tax free.
If an 18 year old opens an IRA, puts in $3000 a year, and it grows at 10% (which a moderately performing mutual fund can do) by the time the person is 72, that account will have eight million, six hundred thirty thousand, two hundred ninty one dollars in it when they retire. Because of inflation, it won't be worth that much in present dollars, so you'll need every penny of it for your retirement.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
What Democrat was it who sai
Tue, 05/22/2007 - 07:57 ET by dscottWhat Democrat was it who said something to the effect, "Social Security is socialism's greatest achievement" It was during either the 2000 or 2004 presidential campaign.
If a ponzi or pyramid scheme is their greatest achievement it doesn't say much for Democrats does it?
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” – Marcus Aurelius