Free Republic

Long hailed by free market economists as the model for how to create a pension system, news out of Chile that it plans on making payouts to low income seniors, has government interventionists jumping for joy. The AP writes: The new $2 billion-a-year program will expand public pensions to groups left out by private pensions - the poor and self-employed, housewives, street vendors and farmers who saved little for retirement - granting about a quarter of the nation's work force public pensions by 2012. The fact is that this move is the way that governments should generally function. Stay out...

Social Security faces an enormous future deficit: Between today and 2075, the inflation-adjusted shortfall is projected to reach a staggering $20 trillion. Although the problem with the current system is due in part to changes in demographics, the root of the problem lies in the fact that the Social Security system itself is poorly designed. Workers, particularly those under age 50, are slated to receive very low benefits in return for a record amount of payroll taxes they send to the federal government. 1 These workers could enjoy substantially greater levels of retirement income if they were allowed to place...

Concerned about a critical shortage of affordable housing for low-income senior citizens, the House passed a bill on Wednesday designed to spark an dramatic expansion of subsidized apartments and improve services for residents. The legislation would affect needy senior citizens nationwide but would have a special impact on South Florida and along the Treasure Coast, where hurricane damage, rising costs and a large population of retirees create widespread demand for affordable options. "A large number of seniors are on waiting lists. The need and the demand are much higher than the market's ability to meet it or the federal incentives...

WASHINGTON — The nation's first baby boomer applied for Social Security benefits today, signaling the start of an expected avalanche of applications from the post World War II war generation. Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, a former teacher from New Jersey, applied for benefits over the Internet at an event attended by Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue. Casey-Kirschling, who now lives in Maryland, was born one second after midnight on Jan. 1, 1946, making her the first baby boomer — a generation of nearly 80 million born from 1946 to 1964, Astrue said. Casey-Kirschling will be eligible for benefits after she turns 62...

New Jersey towns have figured out a way to sidestep the highest property taxes in the U.S. Keep children out. Educating a child in New Jersey costs an average of $12,567 a year, the most in the nation and more than double the property tax parents typically pay. So local governments have hit upon a way to expand the tax base without the expense of higher enrollment: age-restricted housing. New Jersey developers have responded by building an estimated one-fifth of the country's adults-only housing, making the state the leader in a national trend spurred by baby boomers seeking new homes...

As you people know, I have shared with you over the course of many years the writings of Robert Samuelson who is an economist and columnist for the Washington Post, and on most occasions, I am a supreme advocate. This piece that ran today in the Washington Post is a little problematic for me in some areas. The title of his column is, "Entitled Selfishness." His theme here is that the baby boomer generation is in a state of denial. Let me give you some excerpts here. “As someone born in late 1945, I say this to the 76 million...

Continuing our coverage of the next generation of seniors, this one is for the kids - men and women in their 40s or 50s. They are our grown children, most of whom have not known privation, economic depression, a world without television or what it was like in a country that was truly at war to save democracy. In short, it's for a generation with little or no memory of what came before. As my late colleague Lars-Erik Nelson once wrote, few of these people "can imagine why there was ever a need for Social Security, Medicare, the GI Bill,...

I find it disgusting to think of exempting taxes (school taxes and state taxes) for old people. Just because you don’t have kids in school does not mean that you don’t benefit from having a good school system. If the school system went to pot and started turning out more dropouts than graduates, you tax free fogies would be crying about the state of affairs and how it sure was better when you were younger. The Governor has a new item on his Sonny do list. Let the retired folks off the hook for state taxes. Bad idea. Let’s look...

Retirees Will Face Dire Straits BY TERESA DIXON MURRAY This nation faces a massive economic crisis -- indeed a social catastrophe -- that some experts even say will be among the worst the country's ever seen.Much has been said about how the looming retirement of 76 million baby boomers will stampede Social Security, which is expected to start running out of money in 11 years. We almost joke about senior citizens eating dog food. Maybe that joking is the only way we can keep from crying.But Social Security is just one piece of a cruel puzzle. It's not until you...

Everyone seems to have a plan now to “save” Social Security. While these plans typically include varying degrees of increased taxes, higher retirement ages, reduced benefits and escalating deficits, they each share a common theme. That is, they all preserve a massive government mandated retirement program that has us deep in the red. In fact, at this critical juncture in history, as we watch the last years of Social Security surpluses tick away and await the morass of deficits to come, phasing out Social Security could hold the key to solving our looming financial crisis. Like many famous pyramid schemes,...

Today's younger workers face a higher health-care tab as their elders retire Young people may be less tuned into the debate over Medicare prescription drug benefits than their elders, but experts say it's time for them to pay more attention. According to analysts and researchers throughout the health-care policy community, now may be the crucial moment for people in their 20s, 30s and 40s to sit up and take notice of the coming changes to the health care system. "Once the boomers retire, you're not going to take anything away from them," said Robert Moffit, director of the Heritage Foundation's...

MANCHESTER — "We have overpromised." That's how America got into the fix that will see the Social Security trust fund run out in 36 years unless something is done, according to James B. Lockhart III, deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration. On a recent visit to the Manchester SSA office, Lockhart sat down with the Sunday News to discuss the coming Social Security shortfall. These days, he spends a lot of his time on the road, sounding the alarm and pushing the administration's reform ideas. He could be just the man for the job. Earlier jobs During the first...

For the first time in our history, we are regularly spending more than we make. People are not just saving less of their income, they are spending their savings. This disastrous, hedonistic proclivity was ordained by liberal/Progressivism. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal in the 1930s began the process of killing traditional moral values. Among the victims was the idea of saving for a rainy day, the virtue of thrift, Ben Franklin’s “a penny saved is a penny earned.” Young people since the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth had been raised with the admonition to spend only after working hard and saving more...

<p>Dear Robert J. Samuelson, Our records show that you haven't yet registered for the benefits of AARP membership, even though you are fully eligible. . . . I look forward to your joining us.</p> <p>Among AARP's 36 million members, there must be many decent people who benefit from the discounts offered on car rentals, hotel rooms and airline tickets. But I won't be joining, because AARP has become America's most dangerous lobby. If left unchecked, its agenda will plunder our children and grandchildren. Massive outlays for the elderly threaten huge tax increases and other government spending. Both may weaken the economy and the social fabric. No thanks.</p>

SAN DIEGO -- People are busy talking about what this country is going to look like in a few years when a cohort of 78 million Americans acquire a title they never wanted: senior citizen. Hippies who turned into yuppies are about to turn into golden oldies. Just what I wanted to hear: more about the baby boomers.USA Today recently wrapped up a series on aging in America that touched on everything from life expectancy to saving for retirement to long-term health care issues. The newspaper insists that by the year 2046 -- when those Americans who were born from...

America should prepare for a big fat war between the generations. It’s going to be ugly. On one side is the baby boom generation, which retires and claims a ton of government benefits. On the other are younger workers, forced to fund those benefits plus pay the bills their elders left them. When the war comes, the Federal Reserve chairman will have to be a general. That person will likely be Bush nominee Ben Bernanke. The question is, for which side will he fight? Outgoing Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan tried to represent both sides. He supported the Bush tax cuts....

I cringe with disgust when I hear politicians say, "We're doing it for the children." What's worse is so many Americans mindlessly fall hook, line and sinker for the hype. Judging by our actions, Americans could not care less for future generations, and future generations will curse us for it. Let's look at it. According to several respected authorities, including the Concord Coalition (co-chaired by former Sens. Warren Rudman and Robert Kerrey), the Congressional Budget Office, U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow, and the Social Security Administration, the estimated present value of the unfunded liability of Social Security and Medicare ranges...

Republican Study Committee targets senior programs for budget cuts Sept. 22, 2005 – In a stunning announcement yesterday, the Republican Study Committee recommended shifting a big portion of the cost of Hurricane Katrina to the backs of America’s senior citizens. Recommended program cuts impacting seniors include delaying the Medicare Prescription Drug Program, increase Medicare Part B Premium from 25% to 30%, impose a home health co-payment of 10%, reduce Medicaid administrative spending, increase allowable co-pays in Medicaid, block grant Medicaid acute services, base new Federal Retiree Health on length of service, restructure Medicare's cost-sharing requirement and update the formula used...

The debate over whether to reform Social Security is full of idiosyncrasies. Here's a big one: No matter what fix we're talking about - partial privatization, raising the retirement age, means testing so millionaires forfeit benefits, tying benefits to inflation rather than wages, etc. - the most ferocious opposition comes from the demographic that won't be affected either way by any proposal being discussed at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue: Americans already 55 and over. If you can imagine that, you're already two steps ahead of the Bush administration. White House officials seem baffled that their biggest fight has turned...

Jan Murray believes boomers are right to demand your money. I am having trouble empathising with the bleating about whose taxes will fund the ageing baby-boomer bunch in the near future. Such mean-hearted tripe. Such chutzpah - the high-chair set having a hissy fit just thinking about the load it's going to have to bear. So, who started it and how do we stop it is what I want to know. I feel like digging out my pewter jewellery and hurling it at the next Generation-X pet who complains that his or her taxes will be supporting the likes of...

Just get your little behind over here, sit down, shut up, and listen to the voice of experience! You support the proposed gutting of Social Security, right? You think you would do better standing on your own and planning for your own future? You see no reason why you should have to pay into a program that you are told will not be there for you when you are old and gray? Well, let me tell you a thing or two! You're just beginning a career where you are making what seems to be big bucks, and you think there...

My democommie Congressman Pete Visclosky had a Social Security forum at 2:30 this afternoon. I figure setting an afternoon forum was to assure that nobody with a job could show up!! So I decided I need to take some time away from my business and give my congress critter a little heat! Usually my congressman's town meetings attract less than fifty people, so I was shocked to see the room jammed packed and people scrambling to open the divider into the adjacent room. Seems a co-sponsor of the forum was the Alliance for Retired Americans which I now know is...

I would like to issue a challenge to anyone under the age of 40 in the United States of America. It is time we become actively engaged in this debate over Social Security. For those of us in our 20's and 30's, this current debate over the coming crisis in Social Security should be ours since it will have the greatest impact on us and the generations that follow after us. While federal lawmakers can debate the merits of whether we are in an imminent crisis or not, it is clear to most people that if nothing is done the...

I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! The Baby Boomers are coming! For years and years, those of us who are old, and those before us who were old, have kept quiet, not questioning, not asking. Sometimes this was out of fear. If I complain about senior housing, they may throw me out. If I complain about my checks, they may stop coming. And, of course I must never complain or, heaven forbid, question my doctor because 1) he is so busy, or 2) he will get upset with me, or 3) he is God. With more and...

The C-Word: Say It The Social Security crisis begins in just 5 years. The leftist opponents of Social Security reform want you to believe there’s no “crisis,” and that whatever problems the system may have won’t materialize for more than 35 years. Funny how such equanimity and patience seems to elude them when the subject is global warming. It’s even funnier when you realize the objective fact is this: The Social Security crisis actually starts a lot sooner than advocates of reform are saying. The Social Security crisis begins to materialize in just 5 years. Here are the facts. You...

Some elderly shudder at thought of privatization PITTSBURG, Kan. - Merlin Zollars and friend Lila Hudson like to sweeten their spaghetti by squirting a little ketchup on it. Other than that, their fruit pudding, salad and toast are ready to eat. The two often sit next to each other for lunch at the nutrition center operated by the Southeast Kansas Area Agency on Aging. Each pays $1.65 for lunch. It's a way to get a good, hot meal five days a week and catch up on the news with friends. Zollars and Hudson also share something else. They're both nervous...

MIAMI - Gil and Teresa Betthauser spent more than a decade of their retirement touring the nation in a motor home, and now in their 70s, they can't imagine the idea of ending their travels to move into an assisted-living facility. That's why they're intrigued by a recent study that proposes seniors who need only minimal care should take the money they would have spent on assisted living and book permanent passage on cruise ships. "When people have an opportunity to go to the Bahamas, they'd have something to look forward to and they'd live longer," said the 76-year-old Teresa,...

Perhaps the most daunting battle on the horizon for Generations X and Y is the uphill struggle for social security benefits. While our fathers and grandfathers have been paying into social security for the past 70 years and are currently being compensated, roughly in full, the situation is bleak for America’s youth. The baby boomers are now retiring, which means that massive sums of money are being poured out of social security. Meanwhile, Generations X and Y are working to support the huge baby boomer generation. It has been estimated that somewhere around the year 2016, the amount of money...

(For digestion/indigestion) Poll: Seniors Back Drug Imports Proposal Tue Aug 10, 6:10 PM ET By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON - Older and disabled Americans strongly support proposals to permit prescription drug imports and to allow the government to negotiate prices of medicines, said a poll released Tuesday. Both ideas, also backed by the Kerry presidential campaign, would give Americans access to cheaper prescription drugs, said most of those polled, all Medicare recipients. Four-fifths of those questioned in the Kaiser Family Foundation poll said they support both proposals, dismissing misgivings about the safety of imported drugs. By contrast, nearly...

<p>Riley Waller is among many Washoe County senior citizens still angry over the Medicare prescription plan signed into law in December, saying it will gouge seniors and the taxpayers who’ll pay for it.</p> <p>More than 100 senior citizens listened Thursday morning as Nevada Division of Aging officials explained how the new prescription drug program will work.</p>

<p>It's more than a little bit upsetting to hear supposedly responsible people, including President Bush, talk about expanding the presence of humans into space. Space projects cost huge sums of money, and money is the real subject of this letter.</p>

NASHVILLE, June 24 : After 85 years on this earth, 36 of them as a schoolteacher, and more than 60 as a taxpayer, Vela Fox figures the government ought not forget her in her old age. Asked about efforts by Congress to give older Americans some relief from the high cost of prescription drugs, the normally mild-mannered Mrs. Fox lets loose with a tirade that could shake the magnolia blooms off the trees. "If you want to know my opinion," she said on Monday, taking a break from her work teaching ceramics at a center for retirees here, "up in...

Poll asks Which Medicare Drug benefit do you prefer? A - Republican proposal B - Democrat proposal C - Neither, I want even MORE TAXPAYER FUNDS D - Neither, we cannot afford this. D is my personal favorite. AARP has a strong history of advocating the liberal position and supporting Democrats.