Swift's Modest Proposal Updated
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Stopping the Bum's Rush
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Privatizing Social Security is a fake solution to a fake
crisis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/04/opinion/04krugman.html?th
..................
OP-ED COLUMNIST
A Tale of 2 Systems
By DAVID BROOKS
An aging population is a challenge in the U.S. but could
spell economic paralysis for Europe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/04/opinion/04brooks.html?th
..................
I usually don't post Brooks' columns, which are all too frequently slick apologia for Republican proposals. However, in fairness, let's have both Krugman and Brooks -- and me with my rheumatism, bad back, knee, and other assorted ills happily teaching on past the age by which Socrates had taken the hemlock.
I am worried greatly about the armchair proposals about social security that are being made by those who do not desperately need it NOW to survive. I well recall the sad tales of the typical pattern of couples aging upon retirement not so long ago (prior to Medicare). One member of the couple would get sick and the costs of medical care during the last 3 terminal months, often being astronomical, the remaining spouse would discover a lifetime of saving gone and the family home on the auction block to pay off the horrendous medical debts. Such was enough of a shock -- both loss of spouse and support systems -- to knock off the remaining one in short order.
OK. So now we old birds are living longer. A few words of concern. I, as a student, did blue collar jobs that placed considerable strains on the body. I am, thus, all too well aware (also from some of my older students disabled on their jobs, e.g. a carpenter who fell off a roof, resulting in constant back pain) that those who do physical labor are likely to be cut off from work far earlier than we happy folks who work with our minds. We academics have the best deal of all -- we only labor a few days a week out there and have extended vacations several times a year during which we can go through the various medical procedures most of us face in later years and can catch up on this and that.
Some reflections quickly outlined:
1) Extending the years before one is eligible to receive Social Security is ok for those of us in the latter category above, but not for those whose physical labor has taken its toll on their bodies. There are some things that a younger person can do that are down right life- threatening for an older one.
2) The bright idea of having investment accounts for the under 40's is like offering the whole bloody lot of them free lottery tickets. Some will luck out, but the moans on my Yale class list of retirees over what happened to their 401 Ks in 2,000 are not reassuring as one thinks of all the scams out there that come one's way daily with promises of great riches to be had. As Krugman points out in his column today, we will all be out of here with a major economic crash down the line and Bushonomics may well make Hooverism look mild in comparison -- or just a few well place nukes in shipping containers could wipe out the whole mess of financial planning for this shaky nation with its massive, over-extended, and growing personal and national debt burdens.
3) It looks to me that we had better not mess with things that are not broke and that we had better started getting our savings programs -- personal and national -- back into good order. The former we can do by exercising more restraint as to the toys that we purchase to entertain ourselves and the latter by reinstituting serious progressive taxation policies to cover the needs coming our way in the future. Let's not put grandma or grandpa out on the streets, here, there, or elsewhere. We are all in this boat together as it sails down the river of time.
P.S. For those not familiar with the image, Jonathan's Swift's modest proposal was that the Irish overpopulation problem might be solved by fattening the young ones up as feed for the old timers (only a slight modification is needed here to fit it to the Republican proposals for our futures): http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html
Stopping the Bum's Rush
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Privatizing Social Security is a fake solution to a fake
crisis.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/04/opinion/04krugman.html?th
..................
OP-ED COLUMNIST
A Tale of 2 Systems
By DAVID BROOKS
An aging population is a challenge in the U.S. but could
spell economic paralysis for Europe.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/04/opinion/04brooks.html?th
..................
I usually don't post Brooks' columns, which are all too frequently slick apologia for Republican proposals. However, in fairness, let's have both Krugman and Brooks -- and me with my rheumatism, bad back, knee, and other assorted ills happily teaching on past the age by which Socrates had taken the hemlock.
I am worried greatly about the armchair proposals about social security that are being made by those who do not desperately need it NOW to survive. I well recall the sad tales of the typical pattern of couples aging upon retirement not so long ago (prior to Medicare). One member of the couple would get sick and the costs of medical care during the last 3 terminal months, often being astronomical, the remaining spouse would discover a lifetime of saving gone and the family home on the auction block to pay off the horrendous medical debts. Such was enough of a shock -- both loss of spouse and support systems -- to knock off the remaining one in short order.
OK. So now we old birds are living longer. A few words of concern. I, as a student, did blue collar jobs that placed considerable strains on the body. I am, thus, all too well aware (also from some of my older students disabled on their jobs, e.g. a carpenter who fell off a roof, resulting in constant back pain) that those who do physical labor are likely to be cut off from work far earlier than we happy folks who work with our minds. We academics have the best deal of all -- we only labor a few days a week out there and have extended vacations several times a year during which we can go through the various medical procedures most of us face in later years and can catch up on this and that.
Some reflections quickly outlined:
1) Extending the years before one is eligible to receive Social Security is ok for those of us in the latter category above, but not for those whose physical labor has taken its toll on their bodies. There are some things that a younger person can do that are down right life- threatening for an older one.
2) The bright idea of having investment accounts for the under 40's is like offering the whole bloody lot of them free lottery tickets. Some will luck out, but the moans on my Yale class list of retirees over what happened to their 401 Ks in 2,000 are not reassuring as one thinks of all the scams out there that come one's way daily with promises of great riches to be had. As Krugman points out in his column today, we will all be out of here with a major economic crash down the line and Bushonomics may well make Hooverism look mild in comparison -- or just a few well place nukes in shipping containers could wipe out the whole mess of financial planning for this shaky nation with its massive, over-extended, and growing personal and national debt burdens.
3) It looks to me that we had better not mess with things that are not broke and that we had better started getting our savings programs -- personal and national -- back into good order. The former we can do by exercising more restraint as to the toys that we purchase to entertain ourselves and the latter by reinstituting serious progressive taxation policies to cover the needs coming our way in the future. Let's not put grandma or grandpa out on the streets, here, there, or elsewhere. We are all in this boat together as it sails down the river of time.
P.S. For those not familiar with the image, Jonathan's Swift's modest proposal was that the Irish overpopulation problem might be solved by fattening the young ones up as feed for the old timers (only a slight modification is needed here to fit it to the Republican proposals for our futures): http://art-bin.com/art/omodest.html
posted by Ed Kent at 4:44 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home