Is Social Security Still A Good Deal For Workers?

Glenn Reynolds

NO. NEXT QUESTION? This is what happens when a pyramid scheme breaks down. At the top of the pyramid, it’s a good deal. At the bottom, not so much.

Like a lot of government programs, when the inevitable failure occurs the results are catastrophic.

Even the government controlled press is beginning to notice:

If you retired in 1960, you could expect to get back seven times more in benefits than you paid in Social Security taxes, and more if you were a low-income worker, as long you made it to age 78 for men and 81 for women.

As recently as 1985, workers at every income level could retire and expect to get more in benefits than they paid in Social Security taxes, though they didn't do quite as well as their parents and grandparents.

Not anymore.

A married couple retiring last year after both spouses earned average lifetime wages paid about $598,000 in Social Security taxes during their careers. They can expect to collect about $556,000 in benefits, if the man lives to 82 and the woman lives to 85, according to a 2011 study by the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank.

Of course, the AARP is still shilling for the government.   Every time that gang of looters sends me an application I use their prepaid envelope to send back a "hell no."  I just joined Generation America just to support them as an alternative to the AARP.

Born To Be Wild (Boomer Version)

AARP Organizers Cancel ‘Listening Session’ After Participants Refuse to ‘Keep Their Comments Quiet’

From Redstate comment ...

Most of the members of AARP are already familiar with the liberal bias of the organization. Many seniors ignore this due to fears about the possibility of the government entitlements they’re accustomed to receiving, and the fact that the AARP continually works to defend these entitlements as well as trying to get more. The fact that we’ve never really heard or seen this type of dissension among their ranks means people have up to this point decided to ignore the other parts of their agenda that they don’t like in order to protect what they deem most important.

What we have here is not a revolt against Obama or Congress, but members of a private organization revolting against the staff and organizers of the AARP. The majority of them are very concerned about the implications of the bill currently before congress, and how it will affect their ability to receive healthcare after it is implemented.

As a voting block, those 65 and older went only slightly more in favor of McCain in the election of 2008., 54% to 44%). Although one could argue that this single meeting of the AARP is anecdotal and not necessarily representative of the organization’s members as a whole, the fact that they overwhelmingly rejected the position of the host suggests that it is more likely to be representative of the group.

More and more the healthcare bill appears to be the hill that Obama, Pelosi & Reid will live or die on. It is my belief that the strategy that was successful during his campaign and early days of his Presidency is wearing thin on a significant segment of the population; reaching across every demographic group.

Even if in the end Obama and Congress are able to pass some version of this healthcare bill, they will have expended so much political capital they’ll be hard pressed to get any more of their agenda accomplished. That will be very good for Americans.