The fight of the century is about to start!

[Hatterasguy]

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/media/article/generational-fight-century-looms-taxpayers-revolt_410686_15.html


Between my generation who doesn't want to see this country bankrupt, and have to fix it. And the baby boomer's who don't give a damn because they will be dead, and want their SS checks.


Lets get ready to rumble!

Ron Paul won't win this time around, but you will see more and more Ron Paul's with every election.

[A264172]

My god man, you'll be a social security card burning radical before the decade is out. Keep pulling that lever, and don't forget the PR campaign.

[Hatterasguy]

I'm a die hard RP supporter. I don't want to see us playing second fiddle to China once the Chinese take away the Visa they gave us.

[Ken300D]

The Social Security problem is being fixed with currency devaluation. Yes, you'll get your $1200 monthly SS check in retirement. But it will be barely sufficient to pay your electrical bill. It's pretty easy to see it coming when the dollar has been devalued 50% in just the past five years.

Ken300D

[75Sv1]

This is nothing new. Gex 'X' will also face this. Basically the baby boomers are from '45 to 65'. I think that's a bit long of a streatch. Somewhere about the mid 70's the economie declines and the world caught up with the US industrial wise.So some where around '56 to '60 So many of us didn't see the jobs waiting for us in the mid 70's and 80's. Also, retirement benifits are being cut every year. So even if you are going to retire soon, look out. The rules may have changed on you. I think the worset is insurenace for those who retire.
So its not just the melliniums who have this fight on their hands. Fix the Health care problem and save the US.
Tom

[Dee8go]

As the value of the dollar continues to drop, the incentive to buy foreign products drops, too. Of course, some things like oil will still have to be imported and will become even more expensive because worldwide demand will keep rising.

Maybe we will quit consumming so much and start to produce a little more (once again). We used to be the greatest producers on the planet. Now, we seem to be the greatest consumers on the planet. We'll see. . . .

[Carleton Hughes]

Don't fret about Chin-lee,the orientals will burn themselves out since corruption and sub-rosa dealings are endemic in that sector...I,E,any means will justify their ends{profit$}

What's needed is a fresh labour market,just for *****s and giggles say Malaysia,Africa or central america.

Fresh,strong Capital will always seek the most economical and exploitable source,wherever that may be,and our former Maoist confreres have recently garnered theyselves some bad JuJu what with lead paint,Killer dog food,Inter-alia..........

[Dee8go]

The scarey thing about Asians is that they seem perfectly willing and patient enough to take the long view of things. Look at the Japanese. They've been patiently working towards industrial world domination since WW II. They've done pretty well so far.

Perhaps I should not lump all Asians into this generalization, but it does seem like the Koreans, and the Chinese also share this trait. As long as they don't get derailed by political upheaval along the way . . .

[SwampYankee]

Originally Posted by Hatterasguy

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/industries/media/article/generational-fight-century-looms-taxpayers-revolt_410686_15.html


Between my generation who doesn't want to see this country bankrupt, and have to fix it. And the baby boomer's who don't give a damn because they will be dead, and want their SS checks.


Lets get ready to rumble!

Ron Paul won't win this time around, but you will see more and more Ron Paul's with every election.

I find it mind boggling (or mind bottling ) that there are still people pre-retirement age that expect SS to be sufficient to sustain themselves for retirement. While there are times that I wish I was born a few decades before, I'm glad that I'm young enough now to ensure that it won't matter if I never see a penny of it. It's outrageous that the gubmint takes your hard-earned money, ostensibly to help you out in your golden years, but has managed to squander it to the point where insolvency might very well be an issue. You may not see one red cent and they won't even give you the option of keeping it and investing it yourself.

The problem is that there are large blocks of voters incapable of handling their own lives' needs and preparing for the future, as a result there will always be politicians promising them that the gubmint will take care of them. At the ever-increasing expense of those of us trying solidify our own futures.

If a politician even dares suggest changes to the SS system, he can immediately right off the elderly and uneducated blocks which would be political suicide right now. But as more and more of us "younger" voters realize that unless there are changes we might not see anything for that weekly paycheck deduction, the possibility of real change becomes more promising. And an issue a politician can run with.

[pawoSD]

Its going to be interesting when China gets sick of giving us money and comes collecting. If they demanded we pay our debt to them, it'd collapse our whole economy.

Of course that debt keeps rising because we need to build schools and fire stations in Iraq while ours are closed down and fall down from lack of funding. I'm just wondering when its all going to come full circle. Our infrastructure is falling apart and we have no money to fix it. New Orleans is still 45% of what it was 5 years ago, and Calif. needs help from the fires.....but instead we send 500billion more to Iraq. Makes no sense. It will catch up with us soon enough. There will be no middle class left at some point and then the whole housing market and economy will tumble into a depression.

Imagine how many jobs we'd have here if we spent even 1/3 or 1/2 of the money we spend in Iraq, on building/repairing our own infrastructure.

[alamostation]

Holocaust repeated, except with truth behind the claim that Geezers are to blame for the problems of the world. Anybody remember Logan's Run?

The American dream has been killed by my generation (I'm 52) and even more so by my parents' generation. Yet most of them expect to be rewarded for it by payments from the next generation. Sort of like a CEO of Home Depot.

The day after I graduated high school, I got a summer job at the Firestone plant in Wyandotte, Michigan. My weekly paycheck was more than my parents' mortgage payment on a big four bedroom house in a nice suburb.

When my older daughter completes graduate school at the University of Michigan, she may or may not qualify for a mortgage on that same house. My son (with a BA from Eastern Michigan) and younger daughter (headed towards an associate degree as a veternarian technician) are in even worse shape.

At 52, I resent Social Security. I could do much better investing that money myself. At Hatterasguy's age, I would be totally pissed off.

Of course, the 20 to 30 crowd isn't totally innocent either. A few years ago when GWB wanted to allow people to put part of their Social Security into individual retirement funds, they were more interested in being anti-Bush than looking out for their future.

If I do manage to buy my dream retirement home on the beach with a six car garage, will I be able to enjoy it? All it will take is a demagogue to point the finger at the group that controls most of the wealth, but is physically unable to defend it.

Maybe teaching my kids how to invest, some Grecian Formula and the Ron Paul stickers on the back windows of my cars will offer some protection.

[John Doe]

I was all for Ron Paul until about the third debate. I don't think foreign leaders will respect him and I don't he has enough clout to get a big-gun cabinet. jmo.

[jlomon]

Originally Posted by Dee8go

Maybe we will quit consumming so much and start to produce a little more (once again). We used to be the greatest producers on the planet. Now, we seem to be the greatest consumers on the planet. We'll see. . . .

I think this is the genesis of the problem. The whole idea of Social Security was sound when it was introduced. The idea of the present generation of retirees being funded by future generations of retirees makes sense *if* the economic model remains the same. If the US remained the manufacturing powerhouse it was, then there would be high paying, stable jobs for successive generations to keep "feeding the machine". As the population grew, the SS burden would be distributed amongst more employees.

The problem is the model changed about 30 years ago, and the rate of that change has increased dramatically in the past 10 years. High paying, stable jobs are vanishing, all in the interest of maximizing shareholder value. Shareholders are making out well, but the average working stiff isn't. This is going to lead to a real and painful economic change in coming decades, a change that doesn't bode well for any western country.

[raymr]

Originally Posted by alamostation

If I do manage to buy my dream retirement home on the beach with a six car garage, will I be able to enjoy it? All it will take is a demagogue to point the finger at the group that controls most of the wealth, but is physically unable to defend it.

Do you really want all that sand blowing into your garage bays every time you open the doors?

[Hatterasguy]

Devalueing the dollar isn't a bad idea, and long term may be a net gain for us. Hard to say at this point.


What gets to me about SS is what I could be doing with the money now. If I could put what I am paying into something really safe, like a CD's, or a very conservative mutual fund, I'd be way ahead in 45 years when I want to retire.

The writing is on the wall, eventualy the something is going to have to change. We should change now before we are forced to.