December 11, 2003
"Greedy Old Men"
That's the title of this essay from Slate by Steve Chapman of The Chicago Tribune. It's about how the Greatest Generation and the Me Generation are essentially conspiring to create an entitlement system that is going to drive people like me into the ground.
The essay is based largely on this policy analysis by Cato, entitled "War Between the Generations: Federal Spending on the Elderly Set to Explode". Basically, the number of people drawing from Medicare and Social Security will rise by 116% in the next 35 years, while the number of people in the workforce will rise by 22% in the same period. If that weren't bad enough, seniors and boomers keep adding massive new entitlements like the new prescription drug benefit.
You know the whole social contract thing where they're supposed to take care of us when we're young and we're supposed to take care of them when they're old? The deal is off.
You know what sucks? Every time I get my pay stub and notice that the amount deducted for social security is almost the same as the amount I have withdrawn for my 401K ... it's depressing to think that I'm never going to see that money (social security will be long since busted by then), and that I could have retired with twice as much money had the government not withheld my money only to never give it back.
Posted by: Ben at December 11, 2003 10:03 AMI read that article on Slate and I thought of you Ryan.
Posted by: rob at December 11, 2003 11:08 AM