Agism Is Well Under Way
Baby Boomers' Retirements in Jeopardy
"Through a combination of procrastination and bad timing, many baby boomers are facing a personal finance disaster just as they're hoping to retire. Starting in January, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years.
The boomers, who in their youth revolutionized everything from music to race relations, are set to redefine retirement. But a generation that made its mark in the tumultuous 1960s now faces a crisis as it hits its own mid-60s.
"The situation is extremely serious because baby boomers have not saved very effectively for retirement and are still retiring too early," says Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania.
There are several reasons to be concerned:
— The traditional pension plan is disappearing. In 1980, some 39 percent of private-sector workers had a pension that guaranteed a steady payout during retirement. Today that number stands closer to 15 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.
— Reliance on stocks in retirement plans is greater than ever; 42 percent of those workers now have 401(k)s. But the past decade has been a lost one for stocks, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index posting total returns of just 4 percent since the beginning of 2000. — Many retirees banked on their homes as their retirement fund. But the crash in housing prices has slashed almost a third of a typical home's value. Now 22 percent of homeowners, or nearly 11 million people, owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Many are boomers."
Easy to see where all this is headed, with our overlords sitting back and laughing. Divide and conquer works like a charm so we're going to see opprobrium heaped on the post world war generation as if the current economic collapse is caused by them. So as the boomers start turning 65 on January 1 this age group will be villified as parasites on society and younger people. Check out this article and tell me it wasn't penned to cause resentment.
But this planned economic bus plunge is affecting everybody in the country. It should be pointed out that millions of people who worked all their adult lives continue to be wiped out with plummeting real estate and savings evaporating in front of their eyes. When jobs disappear the older workers are the first to get the boot and the last to be hired. When social security collapses it won't be the boomers who paid into it all their lives to blame for it - starting with Clinton the government just covered its deficit by borrowing money from Social Security rather than the public. In essense social security is a piggy bank filled with IOUs that will never be paid. Two and a half trillion dollars of worthless paper. Who can blame people for retiring as soon as they can to at least get some of their money back that they've been shelling out for decades?
When the economy completely collapses it won't be the effect of baby boomers that precipitated it but instead the elites and their criminal policies, a fact for which they most definitely would rather not take responsibility.
"Through a combination of procrastination and bad timing, many baby boomers are facing a personal finance disaster just as they're hoping to retire. Starting in January, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65, a pattern that will continue for the next 19 years.
The boomers, who in their youth revolutionized everything from music to race relations, are set to redefine retirement. But a generation that made its mark in the tumultuous 1960s now faces a crisis as it hits its own mid-60s.
"The situation is extremely serious because baby boomers have not saved very effectively for retirement and are still retiring too early," says Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania.
There are several reasons to be concerned:
— The traditional pension plan is disappearing. In 1980, some 39 percent of private-sector workers had a pension that guaranteed a steady payout during retirement. Today that number stands closer to 15 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.
— Reliance on stocks in retirement plans is greater than ever; 42 percent of those workers now have 401(k)s. But the past decade has been a lost one for stocks, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index posting total returns of just 4 percent since the beginning of 2000. — Many retirees banked on their homes as their retirement fund. But the crash in housing prices has slashed almost a third of a typical home's value. Now 22 percent of homeowners, or nearly 11 million people, owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Many are boomers."
Easy to see where all this is headed, with our overlords sitting back and laughing. Divide and conquer works like a charm so we're going to see opprobrium heaped on the post world war generation as if the current economic collapse is caused by them. So as the boomers start turning 65 on January 1 this age group will be villified as parasites on society and younger people. Check out this article and tell me it wasn't penned to cause resentment.
But this planned economic bus plunge is affecting everybody in the country. It should be pointed out that millions of people who worked all their adult lives continue to be wiped out with plummeting real estate and savings evaporating in front of their eyes. When jobs disappear the older workers are the first to get the boot and the last to be hired. When social security collapses it won't be the boomers who paid into it all their lives to blame for it - starting with Clinton the government just covered its deficit by borrowing money from Social Security rather than the public. In essense social security is a piggy bank filled with IOUs that will never be paid. Two and a half trillion dollars of worthless paper. Who can blame people for retiring as soon as they can to at least get some of their money back that they've been shelling out for decades?
When the economy completely collapses it won't be the effect of baby boomers that precipitated it but instead the elites and their criminal policies, a fact for which they most definitely would rather not take responsibility.
posted by nolocontendere at 5:34 AM
2 Comments:
Hi Nolo:
First, fond good wishes for the New Year. One thing I would love to see on your blog is an e-mail address where I could write you from time to time. Sometimes I want to tell you about something I saw in my Internet surfing that just doesn't fit into any of the comments topics. Also, I would like to give you my personal e-mail address just in case "something" happens to the blogosphere.
Regarding boomers retiring...I am just entering my last year in the workforce. I have worked ever since I was 15 and got two university degrees while working full time. At the moment I am working as a child protection social worker...one of the most demanding and stressful jobs. I am looking forward to finally retiring a year from now. However, I view that prospect with some scepticism because I know that the boomers have been the economic engine driving the economy all our lives.
The PTB can't let us retire without squeezing the last ounce of profit out of us...and then likely shafting us to boot.
They are afraid of the boomers having "leisure" time because the last time we had it...back in the 60's...we demonstrated for left-wing and anti-war causes. You see, we were brought up in the post war era when war was designated as not a healthy thing...so, in that way, our philosophies are dangerous to the status quo. They have kept us so busy with our noses to the grindstone that up to now it hasn't been an issue...but just watch me when I retire...I am going to make the "raging grannies" look like a tea party!
Onwards and upwards!
gc
Thank you gc and the best to you and yours this next year. I admire the work you do and hope you can follow through on your plans.
That's a good point about our overlords' concern with boomers' freed up time; it could be part of the push to have the workforce basically work until they drop. Since their agenda always is to accomplish many things at once, stealing our free time fits right in with keeping us constantly slightly tired and slightly sick, and of course keeping tax money rolling in and us off the SS dole.
Also good idea about an email exchange - here's one you can use to get in touch, and then I'll give you a better one -
duckplops@yahoo.com
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