The Real Social Security Crisis
The President’s Social Security reform agenda has generated very little interest. However, the President’s Social Security reform agenda presented the mainstream media with an opportunity to present the pros and cons of our Social Security system. As with most issues, the mainstream media’s coverage of this issue has missed the mark.
Contrary to the express or implied message of the mainstream media, the baby boomer generation is not simply going to check out of the employment market, retire, and draw down our nation’s healthcare and social security resources. That scenario might have been fitting for the boomer’s parent’s generation, but it most certainly is not fitting for the boomer generation.
The reality is that baby boomers as a group are more healthy and active in their advanced years than any generation of Americans that we have ever known. Combine this with the fact that we are have shifted from a manufacturing-based economy to a non-physically demanding knowledge-based economy and you have the potential for baby boomers to be economically productive well into their 80s, 90s and possibly their 100s.
Besides, the boomers have established themselves as a generation that does things their own way. Given that there will be far fewer workers to fill positions vacated by boomers, boomers will be in a position to write their own job descriptions and define their own work conditions. So why would boomers act contrary to their past behavior and why would they squander the opportunity to do what they want? As many of my boomer clients have said, why would I want to check out now when I am having so much fun?
Each of these issues leads one to the conclusion that a large number of boomers are going to continue working. If so, they will also continue to pay into the Social Security system – they won’t be drawing from the system. It is this continued paying into the system that will easily keep our current system afloat. Why has the mainstream media not included these issues in their coverage of the Social Security “crisis?”
Contrary to the express or implied message of the mainstream media, the baby boomer generation is not simply going to check out of the employment market, retire, and draw down our nation’s healthcare and social security resources. That scenario might have been fitting for the boomer’s parent’s generation, but it most certainly is not fitting for the boomer generation.
The reality is that baby boomers as a group are more healthy and active in their advanced years than any generation of Americans that we have ever known. Combine this with the fact that we are have shifted from a manufacturing-based economy to a non-physically demanding knowledge-based economy and you have the potential for baby boomers to be economically productive well into their 80s, 90s and possibly their 100s.
Besides, the boomers have established themselves as a generation that does things their own way. Given that there will be far fewer workers to fill positions vacated by boomers, boomers will be in a position to write their own job descriptions and define their own work conditions. So why would boomers act contrary to their past behavior and why would they squander the opportunity to do what they want? As many of my boomer clients have said, why would I want to check out now when I am having so much fun?
Each of these issues leads one to the conclusion that a large number of boomers are going to continue working. If so, they will also continue to pay into the Social Security system – they won’t be drawing from the system. It is this continued paying into the system that will easily keep our current system afloat. Why has the mainstream media not included these issues in their coverage of the Social Security “crisis?”
 
|
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home