The three generation form of the family I recommend in my book (under two roofs at opposite ends of the garden) together with a much shorter workweek would go a long way towards mitigating the Social Security crisis. People would not feel the same need to retire as early as they do now, plus monthly cash benefits could be a lot lower when children and grandchildren are near enough to help aging grandparents meet their physical needs.
How about the Conspicuous Consumption Communist Party: CCCP. In Russian it stands for Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik correctly translated as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The late lamented (by Piker and Putin) Soviet Union a/k/a the Evil Empire.
"The young generation is not mobilized like AARP". Because that would entail working with the system we have, which would entail focusing education on how things work and not on how we now live in the worst of all possible systems, where the only authentic posture is to live in opposition to it. In this area there is a lot of organizing going on, and this drains an absurd amount of energy, because, as it was pointed out, the truly objectionable social justice issues have just improved radically. Additionally, issues that do need addressing are often distorted by moral panics. One way the real problems here described will manifest will involve inter-generational hate rather than systemic solutions.
"The young generation is not mobilized like AARP".
But why is that? There should be a rabid intergenerational war going on right now! Didn't they "mobilize" for Occupy Wall Street? And against Israel or ICE deportation actions? Etc.
When I turned 50 I never subscribed to AARP because I realized it was a SCAM ripping off our children and grandchildren via the AARP's deceitful promotion of benefits for retirees [who should have saved and invested for retirement and not need a SS "supplement" except in rare cases/situations.] Reforms based on raising the retirement age and wise means testing could have handled the situation. Even now the doom and gloom seems to be saying in 2032 or so the SS payouts will drop by 25%, not down to $0, which would of course be much more dramatic an impact. But so many numbers are thrown around it is not clear which ones we should really believe.
Given my Medicare premiums are taken out of my "overly generous" SS payments, and I pay double or triple the usual premium rate because of a very decent income two years prior, I am very unhappy to learn that golf and related not-real-medical costs are being covered - I remain skeptical that it is true, but I have heard it from more than one source.
A quick check seems to sort of confirm something I had read a while back, that the Millennial generation was similar in size to the Boomers: 74 million vs. (a now declining) 76 million [see: https://www.marketingcharts.com/featured-30401 ]
Reading further that same source says:
And the generations (as defined by Pew Research Center here):
Gen Z (born 1997-2012): 70.8 million (20.8% pop share)
Millennials (born 1981-1996): 74.2 million (21.8% pop share)
Gen X (born 1965-1980): 65.6 million (19.3% pop share)
Boomers (born 1946-1964): 66.9 million (19.7% pop share)
Silent (born 1928-1945): 15.1 million (4.4% pop share)
"There should be a rabid intergenerational war going on right now!" Holy smokes. I don't disagree about the SS assessment, but to target the older generation as evildoers, or simply for having become a large percentage of the (voting) population comes from a bad place leading to worse places. Many did all the right things to get where they are. I understand the urgency, but urgency should not translate into hate. It is a system problem, and for the solution of those, I prefer competent, reality based leadership to war. This requires a calm center in which solutions can be considered and some consensus reached. The countries mentioned where better solutions are in effect have that to a sufficient degree. In the US we do not, and what good has the various culture wars and moral panics done us lately?
I am glad I caught your reply before too long had passed. My use of the word "war" was intended as a rhetorical flourish, but was perhaps ill advised, given your (and other's potential?) reaction. I was poorly remembering the title of Larry Kotlikoff's and Scott Burn's book The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America's Economic Future [2004].
I think if we were a serious country, while still having failed to address this issue when it is obviously a failed policy as currently structured, there would in fact be a vigorous political row or storm or conflict or battle (or ???) over correcting it.
It also would not surprise me if real leadership* had brought the issue out forcefully enough, there would be plenty of Boomers who would accept the need to drastically curtail their [largely unneeded] SS largess to help recover and institute a wiser retirement "supplemental" system and also avoid its drag on the national budget. Given how well IRA's and 401K's have worked for me, I favor making some form of personally owned IRA mandatory as an alternative to SS as a "pay as you go" payroll tax. I don't like making it mandatory, but I fear it will need to be so to succeed. And we will also still require a supplemental system for those whose circumstances do not allow accumulation of a meaningful IRA nest egg.
I don't like accepting Russ's condemnation of the Boomer Generation since I am an early member. But while "Many did all the right things to get where they are." is true of many of us on a personal level, we did too little as a citizenry in a representative constitutional republic in selecting leaders who acknowledged the problem, educated us about the required sacrifice, and offered viable solutions.
I suspect we are in closer agreement than this somewhat digressive set of comments might suggest.
*Note or recall Perot in 1992. But also Paul Ryan in 2012, where he claimed he and Romney were going to provide that leadership in regard to the national debt. I looked and listened for their substantive program and saw nothing.
Oh, and upon rechecking my bookshelf, I found the 2012 book by Kotlikoff and Burns, The Clash of Generations: Saving Ourselves, Our Kids, and Our Economy. But I never got around to actually reading that later volume, suspecting it would largely duplicate the earlier one.
"we did too little as a citizenry in a representative constitutional republic in selecting leaders who acknowledged the problem"
Thank you for your remarks. I think any individual that wishes to partake in the collective responsibility for outcomes whose origins are of a complexity that exceeds anyones control or foresight, will find plentiful company. While many did the right thing, it didn't preclude most of them from having concerns about their own future and that of their loved ones. So by all means, let us proceed by persuasion and appeal to the sense of fairness we boomers pride ourselves in. If we are the biggest voting block, that seems like the smart approach to me. Imminent failure is also a good motivator. Best regards.
The three generation form of the family I recommend in my book (under two roofs at opposite ends of the garden) together with a much shorter workweek would go a long way towards mitigating the Social Security crisis. People would not feel the same need to retire as early as they do now, plus monthly cash benefits could be a lot lower when children and grandchildren are near enough to help aging grandparents meet their physical needs.
See chapter one, note vi: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U0C9HKW
Unless someone can think of a better solution, this might be the most attractive longterm possibility.
As for the possibility of the young getting organized, Ross might go here: https://lukelea.substack.com/
How about the Conspicuous Consumption Communist Party: CCCP. In Russian it stands for Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik correctly translated as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The late lamented (by Piker and Putin) Soviet Union a/k/a the Evil Empire.
"The young generation is not mobilized like AARP". Because that would entail working with the system we have, which would entail focusing education on how things work and not on how we now live in the worst of all possible systems, where the only authentic posture is to live in opposition to it. In this area there is a lot of organizing going on, and this drains an absurd amount of energy, because, as it was pointed out, the truly objectionable social justice issues have just improved radically. Additionally, issues that do need addressing are often distorted by moral panics. One way the real problems here described will manifest will involve inter-generational hate rather than systemic solutions.
"The young generation is not mobilized like AARP".
But why is that? There should be a rabid intergenerational war going on right now! Didn't they "mobilize" for Occupy Wall Street? And against Israel or ICE deportation actions? Etc.
When I turned 50 I never subscribed to AARP because I realized it was a SCAM ripping off our children and grandchildren via the AARP's deceitful promotion of benefits for retirees [who should have saved and invested for retirement and not need a SS "supplement" except in rare cases/situations.] Reforms based on raising the retirement age and wise means testing could have handled the situation. Even now the doom and gloom seems to be saying in 2032 or so the SS payouts will drop by 25%, not down to $0, which would of course be much more dramatic an impact. But so many numbers are thrown around it is not clear which ones we should really believe.
Given my Medicare premiums are taken out of my "overly generous" SS payments, and I pay double or triple the usual premium rate because of a very decent income two years prior, I am very unhappy to learn that golf and related not-real-medical costs are being covered - I remain skeptical that it is true, but I have heard it from more than one source.
A quick check seems to sort of confirm something I had read a while back, that the Millennial generation was similar in size to the Boomers: 74 million vs. (a now declining) 76 million [see: https://www.marketingcharts.com/featured-30401 ]
Reading further that same source says:
And the generations (as defined by Pew Research Center here):
Gen Z (born 1997-2012): 70.8 million (20.8% pop share)
Millennials (born 1981-1996): 74.2 million (21.8% pop share)
Gen X (born 1965-1980): 65.6 million (19.3% pop share)
Boomers (born 1946-1964): 66.9 million (19.7% pop share)
Silent (born 1928-1945): 15.1 million (4.4% pop share)
"There should be a rabid intergenerational war going on right now!" Holy smokes. I don't disagree about the SS assessment, but to target the older generation as evildoers, or simply for having become a large percentage of the (voting) population comes from a bad place leading to worse places. Many did all the right things to get where they are. I understand the urgency, but urgency should not translate into hate. It is a system problem, and for the solution of those, I prefer competent, reality based leadership to war. This requires a calm center in which solutions can be considered and some consensus reached. The countries mentioned where better solutions are in effect have that to a sufficient degree. In the US we do not, and what good has the various culture wars and moral panics done us lately?
I am glad I caught your reply before too long had passed. My use of the word "war" was intended as a rhetorical flourish, but was perhaps ill advised, given your (and other's potential?) reaction. I was poorly remembering the title of Larry Kotlikoff's and Scott Burn's book The Coming Generational Storm: What You Need to Know about America's Economic Future [2004].
I think if we were a serious country, while still having failed to address this issue when it is obviously a failed policy as currently structured, there would in fact be a vigorous political row or storm or conflict or battle (or ???) over correcting it.
It also would not surprise me if real leadership* had brought the issue out forcefully enough, there would be plenty of Boomers who would accept the need to drastically curtail their [largely unneeded] SS largess to help recover and institute a wiser retirement "supplemental" system and also avoid its drag on the national budget. Given how well IRA's and 401K's have worked for me, I favor making some form of personally owned IRA mandatory as an alternative to SS as a "pay as you go" payroll tax. I don't like making it mandatory, but I fear it will need to be so to succeed. And we will also still require a supplemental system for those whose circumstances do not allow accumulation of a meaningful IRA nest egg.
I don't like accepting Russ's condemnation of the Boomer Generation since I am an early member. But while "Many did all the right things to get where they are." is true of many of us on a personal level, we did too little as a citizenry in a representative constitutional republic in selecting leaders who acknowledged the problem, educated us about the required sacrifice, and offered viable solutions.
I suspect we are in closer agreement than this somewhat digressive set of comments might suggest.
*Note or recall Perot in 1992. But also Paul Ryan in 2012, where he claimed he and Romney were going to provide that leadership in regard to the national debt. I looked and listened for their substantive program and saw nothing.
Oh, and upon rechecking my bookshelf, I found the 2012 book by Kotlikoff and Burns, The Clash of Generations: Saving Ourselves, Our Kids, and Our Economy. But I never got around to actually reading that later volume, suspecting it would largely duplicate the earlier one.
"we did too little as a citizenry in a representative constitutional republic in selecting leaders who acknowledged the problem"
Thank you for your remarks. I think any individual that wishes to partake in the collective responsibility for outcomes whose origins are of a complexity that exceeds anyones control or foresight, will find plentiful company. While many did the right thing, it didn't preclude most of them from having concerns about their own future and that of their loved ones. So by all means, let us proceed by persuasion and appeal to the sense of fairness we boomers pride ourselves in. If we are the biggest voting block, that seems like the smart approach to me. Imminent failure is also a good motivator. Best regards.