I don't think this administration fully understands just how many [View all]
seniors are out there, and how riled up we can get. They think the protests against Trump and various nominees have been unpleasant? I don't think they know what could come.
It's bad enough we didn't get an increase this year or last, thanks to the way the COLA is figured. To go back to the days when there was no COLA, before 1975, when the phrase "Living on a Fixed Income" was absolutely true, will bring back those golden days of dire poverty to many seniors. I hope it's clear I'm being very sarcastic with the use of golden days. Furthermore, if they think they can actually cut SS they will discover just what an insurrection could look like.
SS was intended to be the third leg of a three-legged stool, the other two legs being a pension and savings. And each one of those legs should contribute about a third of an older person's income. For lots of reasons (and the disappearance of pensions is only part of the story) some very large number of seniors depend on SS for anywhere from half to all of their income. Which means those people are living pretty close to the edge.
A lot of those seniors vote, and a lot of them will let Congress know exactly what they think if any cuts are planned. A quick look at the SSA website shows that over 43 million people over the age of 65 receive SS. There are several million more disabled people receiving SS or SSI, and several million more under the age of 65 who took early retirement. I suspect that a noticeable percentage of those many millions would protest, march in the streets in their home cities and in DC. Many thousands would occupy their Representatives' and Senators' offices.
It's rarely a good idea to mess with old people.
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