Just As I Thought

People ask why I'm so ironic and bitter all the time. Here's a perfect example. When I turn 70, and become eligible for Social Security benefits, that will be the exact year that the Social Security trust fund runs dry. Proof, as if I've ever needed it, that Social Security is nothing more than the old using the government to steal from the young. And both Congress and the public in general refuse to do anything about the way this program works or how it is funded. The only thing that they do is put Social Secruity "off-budget" as if that meant Congress lacked the power to do anything about it and that makes it somehow no part of our government's obligations (and the national debt). Privatizing Social Security is an idea with some merits, although may not be the right answer to this problem, I know. But at least it's an idea. Means-testing benefits (at least more than is done now) seems like a sensible idea. Bill Gates does not need social security. But this concept has "bash the rich" populism behind it, and that is a political theme that seems to have worn out its welcome in this generation of the country's historical cycle.

My parents tell me that they don't expect that Social Security will always be there for them. I think it's wise of them to have planned for their imminent retirement on that basis, but I disagree with their assumption. My parents are baby boomers, and as a result their generation has a tremendous amount of political clout. The system will be reformed to make sure that people of that generation (who are larger in numbers than people of my generation, and who vote in higher percentages than people of my generation) are given what they were "promised" as younger workers. No, it's the children of the boomers who will get slipped the green weenie, because demographically, we're less important. Even Nostradamus could predict what's going to happen in the long run here.