Click HERE For THE Conservative Family Alternative to the AARP!
Posted on 01/13/2005 2:37:24 PM PST by Congressman Billybob
Some of life’s turning points are obvious. Others come as a surprise, like being hit from behind by a truck. I had an obvious one last week. I became a coot.
I applied for early retirement on Social Security. That means I have to buy a beige cardigan and wear it with the buttons mismatched. I have to belt my pants ten inches above my belly button. I’ll start losing hair from my head, which will reappear in my nose and ears. I’m officially an old coot.
But that’s not what I came to talk about. I came to talk about the AARP (not just “retired” people) and Social Security. I’ve been a member of AARP for twelve years. They have a cadre of snitches to tell them when anyone turns 50. They grab people at that age, as coots in training.
AARP’s official position is there is no “crisis” in Social Security, that only small changes are needed to keep it financially sound. Its website article is entitled “Don’t Mess with Success.” It asserts, “there is no crisis and that moderate adjustments can keep the system sound.”
Anyone with a college degree, a hand-held calculator, and a demographic chart of US population knows the position of AARP is false. The Baby Boomers (my generation) are beginning to retire. When SS began in 1935 there were 16 workers for every one retiree. Plus, the average American lived less than ten years after retirement. Even though all the receipts from SS were sucked out of the trust fund and into the federal general accounts, the system was solid.
Today, there are only three workers for every retiree. Plus, the average American is living about twenty years beyond retirement. Plus, the payouts from SS are not just worker retirement. Disability and survivor benefits have been added. The final coffin nail is the retirement of the Boomers. As we retire, the ratio of workers to retirees will drop to two to one, and the system then fails.
The longest (and most optimistic) projection is that SS will not fail until 2042. However, an excellent article in National Review Online on 11 January, 2005, explains a closer failure. In 2009, the surplus from SS that goes into the federal general account will begin to decline. At that point, not 2042, Congress will be compelled to raise taxes, or cut SS benefits, or cut other programs to make up for the SS shrinkage. Forcing Congress to chose among those drastic alternatives qualifies, I think, as a crisis.
AARP is the largest political organization in the United States, with the greatest interest in SS. If it cannot get the facts straight on this subject, we are all in trouble.
AARP sets its policies through its 21-member Board. While AARP claims input comes from the bottom up, the Board holds the whip hand. New Board members are nominated by a ten-member committee, chosen by the Board. Three members are on the Board. Five are chosen from AARP’s operating regions, two at large.
One-third of the Board are replaced every two years. Any of the 35 million members of AARP may throw their hat in the ring. But the nominating committee culls the names to about 17 deemed acceptable to the Board. The Board then chooses the seven replacements each year.
There is no petition or nominating process by which anyone at odds with the current Board could get elected. The process is incestuous. If government in America had been reelected like the Board of AARP is now, we would be playing “God Save the Queen” before the Superbowl.
As Professor Peter Drucker pointed out with both cynicism and accuracy, “No matter what its original purpose, once any organization grows beyond 1,000 in staff, its main purpose becomes self-preservation.” That is AARP today.
Twenty of the twenty-one Board members of AARP either had long careers in AARP, or are on public payrolls at the state, national, or international level. Only one has experienced fully private employment. This explains much about the liberal bias of AARP. It is an eye-opening experience to read the biographies of the Board.
If AARP’s members ever decide that it is wrong on Social Security or other issues, it’s hard to see how they can express that except demonstrating outside AARP’s marble palace in D.C. There ain’t no democracy in AARP.
By the way, many of you reading this are coots, or coots in training, or have coots in your household. To deal with that unfortunate situation with good humor, I recommend the book “Coots,” by Mike Dowdall and Pat Walsh. The text is delightful and the illustrations are priceless.
About the Author: John Armor is a First Amendment attorney and author who lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. CongressmanBillybob@earthlink.net
Good for you.
The AARP's socialist drivel sticks in my craw, and as a conservative I'd be embarrassed to take any of their discounts let alone be associated with them (not that I'm anywhere near old enough to be a member).
However, I think other discounts for seasoned citizens, such as restaurant "senior menus," are understandable. Folks who can order from those menus pay less but also get less. It makes sense.
Understood. It makes for good business.
But it's business that ultimately benefits liberalism!
That said, I don't want to argue with you over it. I've seen you around FR and think you're a fine person. Best wishes as to your conservo-coot revolution. All things are possible with God. :-)
It is kinda crazy isn't it. It seems like when you're young, you have the energy but not the time and money; when you're old you have the money and time but not the energy.
In 2009, the surplus from SS that goes into the federal general account will begin to decline. At that point, not 2042, Congress will be compelled to raise taxes, or cut SS benefits, or cut other programs to make up for the SS shrinkage.
Forcing Congress to chose among those drastic alternatives qualifies, I think, as a crisis.
They oppose the FairTax. I think that I have a message on it somewhere. If you really want it, I'll try to find it for you.
The GOP should hire these guys to track down their wayward voters. They would never lose an election.
Better still, the gubmint should hire them to track down our millions of illegal aliens by promising to pay their first two years membership. None of them would get away!
Rotsa ruck.
Ping.
They also invest heavily in the stock market making millions off their investments each year. Such hypocrisy, since they would not stay for a week in any investment returning a yield as low as social security does. If they investigated the privatization plan honestly they would be for it, but it (privatization) is too capitalistic for the democratic party to abide, it will spur the economy and lead to the election of republicans for years to come and this is something the democrats must fight.
When is somebody going to face the Socialists, like Ted Kennedy, and challenge them thus:
'Senator, isn't your opposition to privitization of Social Security based soley upon the resulting reduction of access to money for your self-serving pork barrel programs?'
It's really that simple!
What is the annual total in receipts for Social Security Nationally?
That money goes into the General Fund, NOT a 'trust fund'!
If 1/3 of that would no longer be available to these thieves!
SSI is 6%
The proposal is to allow income earners to place 1/3 (2%) into a privately managed fund, WITH LIMITATIONS ON THE RISK LEVEL OF THAT INVESTMENT!
Being on SSI permament disability, let me be the 1st to welcome you to The Official 'Ol Coots Club. Enjoy!
By the way, many of you reading this are coots, or coots in training, or have coots in your household. To deal with that unfortunate situation with good humor, I recommend the book Coots by Mike Dowdall and Pat Walsh. The text is delightful and the illustrations are priceless.
The latest missive from NC's own Congressman Billybob...
They compete unfairly with private businesses because they receive numerous government subsidies. That means YOUR tax dollars, so you really are paying for those insurance and motel rates after all. Plus, you are counted in their inflated membership so they can bludgeon congressmen to spend ever more tax money on the richest segment of our society, the elderly. No conservative should be in AARP.
Sometimes I wish I were old enough to order those smaller-portioned meals.
This cootette parted ways w/that AARP union.
That's a noble position, IMO, but when you join the "group", the group acts as one when lobbying, proposing, or opposing policy, so dissension is literally falling on deafened ears....;-)
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