General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: With Low Wage Jobs Growing No Way For Most Workers To Save For Retirement [View all]earthside
(6,960 posts)The population bulge of baby boomers -- born in the mid to late 1950s -- is going to be hitting retirement age in less than ten years.
What are we going to do then?
Millions and millions of folks 65 years old and over who have virtually no retirement savings, limited job prospects and no resources to pay for health care?
Before Social Security, old folks lived with their children or ended up in county 'Pioneer Homes' living in poverty.
The issue is going to be how much are we as a country going to raise Social Security benefits and provide 100 percent Medicare for those 65 years old and over?
If we don't, then we are going to see an economic crisis of immense proportions brought on by younger generations so burdened with student loan debt and low wages that they cannot provide for their own parents coupled with a population of tens and tens of millions of senior citizens without enough financial resources on which to live.
We've worked ourselves into quite a hole -- and it can be blamed mostly on the Walmartization and financialization of our economy that promotes low wages, low taxes and low education.