Social Security--Greatest Ponzi Scheme Since 1920s
Well, the Gray Panthers are at it again! They weren’t satisfied after scoring a victory in retaining their precious Social Security cost-of-living allowance increases during recent budget battles. Now they are mobilizing to repeal the very moderate $92 rise (to $492) in the Medicare deductible they pay when hospitalized at taxpayer’s expense.
As a recent college graduate on the brink of beginning a minimum 40 years of working, paying taxes, etc., I am very distressed at what I see in my future--and quite frankly am sick of hearing about “the plight of our elderly citizens.” Everywhere I go I see “senior citizen discounts” offered on everything from movies to breakfast, lunch and dinners to air fares to ocean cruises and on and on. The senior citizen high-rise housing project downtown probably offers views on par with those of opulent condominiums.
Study after study has shown these people to be one of the most affluent cohorts of our society; with most owning a home free and clear, having savings of $65,000 or more, and being on top of the pyramid of the best Ponzi scheme since the 1920s--namely Social Security. After paying negligible Social Security taxes during their working years, those over age 65 now receive back everything they contributed after an average of a mere 2 1/2 years on the dole. After this, they realize windfall profits and are nothing but a drain (in the form of Social Security taxes equivalent to extortion) on the ever-decreasing numbers of poor working stiffs available to support each retiree.
In stark contrast, my peers and I have the dubious distinction of being the first generation of Americans whose standard of living will be less than that of our parents. The vast majority of us cannot afford to finance homes carrying $1,500 to $2,000 monthly mortgages at “cheap” interest rates of 12%. We will also have virtually no money available to save for our old age in the face of a never-ending escalation of Draconian Social Security payroll taxes, which will soon be a minimum of $5,000 per annum under the Social Security rescue plan enacted by a gutless Congress in the early 1980s.
The ultimate disgrace (and to me the most dangerous precedent), however, is the recent Reagan Administration move to freeze the salaries of white-collar government workers who have houses to pay off, children to send to college, etc.; while it keeps Social Security beneficiaries annual raises (i.e. COLAs for which they do absolutely nothing to earn but sit around and write their politicians threatening letters) right on rolling.
I urge all working people to kill this horrific trend in its tracks by raising some hell of our own in calling on our elected representatives for the following:
1--Giving working people the freedom to have the option of participating in the Social Security program. Personally, I feel financially competent enough to take the hundreds of thousands of dollars the government will rip off from me over my working lifetime in Social Security taxes and plan for my retirement through investment in a personal IRA, private retirement program, a place to live, etc.
2--Immediate institution of a means test for all present and future Social Security recipients to disqualify all those individuals who are financially secure enough in retirement that they are not in danger of eating cat food for dinner. This move will not only insure that those seniors living in true need above the poverty line will not be abandoned, but will also cut the burden on working people struggling to establish a secure financial base for themselves and their families.
Before I am branded and crucified by those fellow Americans over age 65 as being totally heartless and cold, I ask them to think of their children and grandchildren who are growing up in a very different and uncertain world than they knew. Instead of F.D.R. and Ike, cheap gas, and 5% mortgages; we face nuclear war, toxic waste and a $1.2 trillion national debt we are obligated to pay off.
I appeal to them to make the personal sacrifice necessary to give us a fighting chance.
D. HIIPAKKA
La Mesa
