Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Work 'til You Drop: Is that such a bad idea? (Why is working as long as you live so terrible?)
American Thinker ^ | 04/30/2012

Posted on 04/30/2012 6:20:47 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Social Security is slated to run out of money in 2033, three years earlier than expected. So maybe it's time for politicians to stop pandering when it comes to shoring up the system and instead rethink the retirement entitlement altogether.

Maybe we just need to look back at our history.

In the early 1900s, nearly 80 percent of Americans over the age of 65 had a job. Dora Costa, an economic historian at UCLA, says people stopped working only if they were no longer physically able to. They expected to work as long as they lived.

Is that really such a terrible idea?

Look at our labor force. It's changed dramatically since Social Security was enacted in 1935. Most of us are no longer spending our time working on farms or in heavy labor. Most of us are retiring from office jobs. Should we really be funding retirement at 65 just so we can live a life of leisure for the next 15, 20, or 25 years? Some financial advisers are even suggesting that when planning for retirement, we plan to live to 100, or at least another 30 years.

Aging just isn't what it used to be. Carroll O'Connor was only 47 when All in the Family premiered -- younger than Brad Pitt. And look at Mitt Romney. He's 65; he's fit, and he surfs. While wealthy, he's hardly an outlier. The majority of us aren't sitting in rockers in our 60s. We're physically active -- playing tennis and golf, hiking, traveling. We're living longer, healthier lives than ever before.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: letthemeatcake; seniors; socialsecurity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-103 next last
My response to this article is this -- Personally, I don't mind working as long as I can. The only problem is this --- AGEISM is rampant in America and most often, when things go bad, the OLDER workers are the ones to be laid off first.

And who is going to hire you when you're 65?

THAT is the question, not the willingness to work.

1 posted on 04/30/2012 6:21:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

“the OLDER workers are the ones to be laid off first. “

Great time to start your own business.

And I don’t call it “work till you drop,” I call it “going out with your boots on.”

:)


2 posted on 04/30/2012 6:24:09 AM PDT by TFMcGuire (Liberalism Is Hatred)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

—Why is working as long as you live so terrible?—

We were designed as gardeners. We gardened this weekend, worked our butts off, and had a blast.

It’s true what they say: gardening is better than therapy because you get tomatoes.


3 posted on 04/30/2012 6:25:32 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Work ‘til You Drop.

That’s my retirement plan.


4 posted on 04/30/2012 6:27:33 AM PDT by paterfamilias
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

You may not be able to work until you drop. You may be laid off because you are high priced, or you may have a medical condition. In addition, no body likes to hire old people regardless of their background.


5 posted on 04/30/2012 6:29:03 AM PDT by Citizen Tom Paine (An old sailor sends)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

So you think it is ok for all these old farts to keep their jobs for their entire lives and cheat the younger generation out of having a job? /sarc


6 posted on 04/30/2012 6:30:35 AM PDT by EBH (The redistibution of another man's money, does not create wealth for the "greater good.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Working and having job are different. I plan on retiring from my job as young as possible so I can work on things I don’t have time for now.


7 posted on 04/30/2012 6:30:40 AM PDT by WinMod70
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I don’t think it’s questionable - we will have to. I am planning my post-retirement career now.


8 posted on 04/30/2012 6:30:40 AM PDT by SuzyQue
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It isn’t a bad idea to work in some way as long as you can if you can. If you have a physical job, you probably can’t work til you drop. But most people who work in office jobs can work beyond 66 — at least into their early 70s in some capacity, even if its cutting back to part time. The benefit of doing this would be huge. Pension and Social Security problems would vanish. And yet we are going in the opposite direction. People who have jobs that allow them to retire in their late 50s or early 60s. Its why we are in the trouble we are.


9 posted on 04/30/2012 6:31:16 AM PDT by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind
In the early 1900s, nearly 80 percent of Americans over the age of 65 had a job. How many American attained the age of 65 in the early 1900s?

As I understand it, when Socialist Security was started the average lifespan was something like 62 years.

But getting to the point of the thread, I agree with the poster who suggested by the age of 65, one should have been able to have started his or her own business.

However, I'm one to talk. I'm 50 and I don't own my own business.

The point remains, there's too much emphasis on "jobs" and not enough on "entrepreunerialship".

Maybe if there was an easier way to say "entrereneurialship".

10 posted on 04/30/2012 6:31:30 AM PDT by Texas Eagle (If it wasn't for double-standards, Liberals would have no standards at all -- Texas Eagle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

It’s all fun and games until you are the one stuck in a WalMart checkout with a 90 year old cashier.


11 posted on 04/30/2012 6:32:12 AM PDT by dangerdoc (see post #6)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Remember this passage for The Holy Bible:
Genesis 3:19
King James Version (KJV)

19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return
There is NO expiration for this.


12 posted on 04/30/2012 6:32:21 AM PDT by US Navy Vet (Go Packers! Go Rockies! Go Boston Bruins! See, I'm "Diverse"!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WinMod70

That’s it right there. I left the traditional workforce at 57 and having the time of my life. Working, just in different ways...


13 posted on 04/30/2012 6:32:54 AM PDT by bigbob
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I like to work. I enjoy what I do. LORD willing I will work at *something* productive until I am physically unable to do so. I think retirement — at least the “fishing every day” kind — would kill me quick.

I have had my own business for years so “ageism” isn’t so much of a problem. If you have a marketable talent or skill it’s not as hard to do your own thing as many imagine it is. Funny thing: when you ARE the business, sometimes the gray hair is actually an ADVANTAGE.

I’m also debt free so I don’t need to work eighty hours a week. I have savings but no pension. I don’t plan on retiring on social security; consequently I structure my compensation to pay as little into it as I can legally do.


14 posted on 04/30/2012 6:33:15 AM PDT by Nervous Tick (Trust in God, but row away from the rocks!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I am not doing software development into my 60’s. I want to get off of the technology treadmill.


15 posted on 04/30/2012 6:35:31 AM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

I want to retire, leave New Jersey, take my guns and tools with me and target shoot, hunt, hike and build rifles until I die.

You can make arguments for and against Socialist Security and pensions. But Socialist Security is not an entitlement, it is a form of retirement insurance.

Those SOBs in Washington, primarily Democrats, destroyed it by expanding it for other purposes, raiding it for other purposes and lowering the reitement age.

Pensions should also be run as a reitement insurance program with the money well invested and protected - sort of like a 401-K program and maybe Socialist Security should be run like that also.

But people who are nearing retirement and have made plans based on SS and a pension system should be screwed because a pension administrator or those clown in Washington have been misbehaving badly.


16 posted on 04/30/2012 6:36:13 AM PDT by ZULU (Non Nobis Domine Non Nobis Sed Nomini Tuo Da Gloriam.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: paterfamilias

I planted a dozen pecan and filbert trees on our property. The plan was to harvest the nuts and sell them at the local farmers’ market.

Based on their growth to date, I’ll have a double handfull to sell in about 25 years.


17 posted on 04/30/2012 6:40:14 AM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Texas Eagle
In the early 1900s, nearly 80 percent of Americans over the age of 65 had a job. How many American attained the age of 65 in the early 1900s?

Actually, many attained that age... The "average lifespan" extension we see as a great benefit of modern medicine is almost entirely due to reductions in infant mortality, and deaths due to childhood diseases. Someone at the turn of the 20th century (or even back at the turn of the previous) who had already made it to 30 had an average life expectancy comparable to a 30 year old today (maybe ~3-5 years less, as I recall).

18 posted on 04/30/2012 6:40:14 AM PDT by LambSlave
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: SeekAndFind

Maybe they want to spend time with their family, especially grandchildren? Did this genius writer think of that?


19 posted on 04/30/2012 6:40:14 AM PDT by wastedyears (There can be only one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: EBH

RE: So you think it is ok for all these old farts to keep their jobs for their entire lives and cheat the younger generation out of having a job? /sarc

I’m not saying that at all. All I’m saying is this — if by “work”, the author of this article is referring to — doing what you have been doing ( your profession ) for as long as you can — then he clearly is idealizing the situation in the workforce.

At a certain age ( usually much younger than 65 as I observe ), you WILL BE forced to retire.

Therefore, you will have to either:

A) Hope you can still be hired ( good luck with that )
B) Start your own business ( good luck with that ).
C) Find some other source of income (good luck with that ).
D) Volunteer doing a good cause (All well and good. But then, that’s not about income at all, which of course, goes against the premise of the article itself ).


20 posted on 04/30/2012 6:40:28 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-80 ... 101-103 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson