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Sekhmets Daughter

(7,515 posts)
11. Boomers began retiring and collecting Social Security in 2008.
Sat Oct 27, 2012, 10:52 PM
Oct 2012

That's because many choose to retire with less than full benefits at age 62....
The first Boomer Medicare enrollments began in 2011.

Under normal circumstances it would be good for the economy and good for college graduates, but the devastation 401Ks suffered in the financial fiasco has caused many Boomers to put off retirement. Also, corporations have taken to reducing their work forces and are not replacing retirees as readily as they used to.

The Boomer generation is both the richest generation to come down the pike and the generation least prepared for retirement....Income inequality has effected this generation more than any other since the Gilded Age. Therein lies the problem. I read somewhere that fully 50% of the work force in the US has no retirement plan other than Social Security.

Had wages kept up with GDP growth over the past 30 years the median wage in 2010 would have been $92,000 rather than the $50,200 it was that year (It has fallen since) and Social Security would be completely solvent.

They will need to remove the cap on wages subject to the payroll tax, raise the retirement age for white collar workers, and means test all benefits. They keep changing the way they calculate inflation so they can give less of a COLA increase to SS recipients, so now those increases don't come near to covering the increased cost of food and fuel. But the best thing that could be done is to stop the outsourcing of good paying jobs, raise the minimum age to a living wage (Australia recently raised their minimum wage to $15.51 an hour) and all wages will rise, tax all income as earned income which would rein in Wall St.... There is a direct correlation between the rise in the DJIA and falling wages.

Just some thoughts...

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

Does anyone know where's the party? flamingdem Oct 2012 #1
How many elderly hips will break dflprincess Oct 2012 #3
LOL! We just bought a house with steps up to the bedrooms and steps down to the basement........... leftofcool Oct 2012 #4
That's the number one reason we need Obamacare! flamingdem Oct 2012 #5
Works for me. leftofcool Oct 2012 #7
We'll have Medicare dflprincess Oct 2012 #10
18 more months for hubby to age 66. We are done. Going to be part of the 47% who leftofcool Oct 2012 #2
Or not. Afterall, we have to support the tax breaks and loopeholes for the aholes. MichiganVote Oct 2012 #6
some of us will have to work until we die because we don't have income AND 2Design Oct 2012 #8
I read somewhere that 40% of Boomer's plan to work until they die. nt Quixote1818 Oct 2012 #9
Boomers began retiring and collecting Social Security in 2008. Sekhmets Daughter Oct 2012 #11
Good thoughts...nt Quixote1818 Oct 2012 #13
Social Security has planned for this for many years MannyGoldstein Oct 2012 #12
Greenspan Commission DOUBLED payroll taqxes ErikJ Oct 2012 #14
Yes, but they never took into consideration falling wages. Sekhmets Daughter Oct 2012 #15
Yes, but the republicans have borrowed heavily... malokvale77 Oct 2012 #19
I iz one. Boom! gottavote Oct 2012 #16
Many jobs available starting in about 2025. What jobs are those? And where? Zalatix Oct 2012 #21
The generation prior to the baby boomers sucked it up and educated them. Luminous Animal Oct 2012 #17
Some see too many baby boomers NOT retiring as a burden loyalsister Oct 2012 #18
They won't be retiring without Social Security aletier_v Oct 2012 #20
Everyone has known about us since the 40's.. We are not a stealth-generation. SoCalDem Oct 2012 #22
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