Do NOT Mess with the Old Folks!!!

Originally posted by LargeFries
being as greed is a common trait, doubly so in the America system, i'd agree seniors are a greedy lot. repeat: greed is a common trait.

what are the angry seniors doing to change the rising retirement age? these are the same senior citizens that, from what i've read, make up the largest voting pool in America.

Um, they weren't senior citizens for most of those years when money was being deducted from their paychecks from Social Security.

I remember the Reagan years when they started taking huge amounts from the social security surplus to finance tax cuts. When people on the left complained about it and said it could adversely affect benefits in the future, they were dismissed as paranoid. We were told Social Security was on rock solid ground, and borrowing didn't matter because the SS fund got Treasury Bills.

The people were lied to. It was always the intention by the rich to weaken, then destroy social security. The rich are smart. They took our retirement money in the form of tax cuts, that screwed up the system, then they say "oh what a terrible idea social security is! See how screwed up it is?! We need to PRIVATIZE it!"

Originally posted by The Walking Fox
The baby boomers are a generation built entirely on being as lazy and wasteful as possible. They've spent the last thirty years screwing this country into the ground, and it's gonna be another three generations of busting ass to get us back to where their parents were just sixty years ago.

What, did your boomer parents embarrass you in front of your friends at the mall?

The "boomers" for the past few decades have been the major source of government revenue, paying income taxes, paying into social security, etc., while these funds began being raided by those of the generation before them - Reagan certainly was not from the boomer generation. The negative results of that were not immediately felt as boomer-generated revenue continued pouring in. Instead, it almost made Reagan appear a saint. It was like he had a spending spree with the family credit card. It was fun at the time, until the bills begin rolling in. The boomers work and the bills get paid on time but they have been paying off the debts accrued by their political leaders as they raided the system.

Be wary, those in the government will always be looking for ways to spend your money that is in the public trust. They will either look for ways to spend it directly, or to transfer it into less secure accounts that can disappear overnight. This was demonstrated last decade as there were calsl to privatize Social Security promising greater returns if they could invest it for you in stocks. Then in 2008 we witnessed how secure that would have been as those stocks collapsed. Some of my own savings, fortunately a small part of it, diminished by 40% while invested in those funds, virtually overnight.

As the boomers begin retiring from the workforce you will likely feel the crunch left in their absence. You may have to open your eyes a bit wider than they are now to understand how this works. But as long as your leaders can point to your parents as being the culprits you will feel fine having someone to blame. Remember how they balked at buying your Playstation 3 and told you your older model was still good? They never understood priorities, did they?

It is your patriotic duty now to blame your troubles on the older folks. Blame them that you have to work and your paycheck barely meets your expenses. Welcome to the real world.

About time! Star and flag for you! A very true statement. I have worked since I was 15, and am now 33. I will work till I die because they stole my retirement money. I do not think I will see any money that I payed into this ponzi scheme.

reply to post by barkingdogamato

Great find and thank you for posting it, I can relate to this Montana Senior citizen as I am also a senior and agree 100%. They reduced my social security because I was born after a certan year to the tune of $400.00 a month, talk about anger. My paying in all those years means nothing.

I would love to meet this man. And that probably extremely possible for me seeing as I live in Montana. This is just another shining example of the mind set most of my fellow Montanans have. I wish there was a little more information on his location. Just says he's a Montana senior but it could have given a county or something at least.

Originally posted by BuzzCory
Nicely parroted statement. What exactly do you mean by "a generation"? Do you think Baby Boomers fall neatly into one age group? "Where my parents were sixty years ago", was enjoying their two year-old son, the child they'd put off having until WWII was over, & my father had returned safely home. That would be me.

Economically. I'll bet at least your father had a union job? Retired with a benefits package? Maybe had some stock options in his place of work? Maybe you weren't wealthy, but there's good odds you weren't a paycheck away from living under a bridge with them, were you? Probably owned their own home, and didn't have to worry about their mortgage rates suddenly catapulting through the roof. I'll wager your parents never thought twice about the public school system (with possible exception if they were like my grandparents, and opposed desegregation; the greatest generation was by no means perfect, of course) and you got an adequate education out of it.

Have you noticed how after the boomers - and yes, I'm speaking in generalities - started voting, all these things started crumbling? My theory is, the overwhelming majority of them had known nothing but ease growing up; ease, at least, compared to previous generations. After all, that's what their own parents had worked so hard to achieve! But like any spoiled child, they were, collectively, greedy and short-sighted. So now we have no unions, a quality retirement is almost mythical, people are losing their homes left and right, and you know what?

The baby boomers are scooting around on their medicaid-bought hoverounds and screeching about Mexicans and socialized medicine. Even as they're falling apart into obese blobs, thy can't think of anything other than screwing other people.

The rest of your assertion is just as inaccurate, and puts me in mind of a previous poster's statement about younger people in America being programmed to blame the country's ills on their older fellow citizens, & not on our poorly-performing pols. Start thinking for yourself, huh?

Start thinking for myself, in this instance, seems to mean "agree with me!" - sorry, no, I reached my opinions independently by examining the evidence at hand.

Our poorly-performing politicians are, for the most part, elected by that generation - which they also happen to belong to. it's a very large group of voters, as I'm sure you're aware; AARP is one of the strongest lobbies in Washington because of that. Don't pretend that crappy politicians just descend into place from the sky without any influence from the people around them

I'll be collecting my first Social Security check next month, just after my 63rd birthday, having spent my earlier years busting my ass, as have many my age. I'm glad there was still money in the fund, after being told for most of my working life that there would not be. I hope those Boomers who were born some years later will be able to say the same one day as well.

Oddly enough, I've got no issue whatsoever with you collecting Social Security. You put your money in to pay for your grandparents and parents, I've got no issue doing the same. Seriously, go for it, you did earn it.

My issue is with the greater picture.

I don't feel I owe you or anyone else a detailed personal history of what I mean by "busting ass", so I'll forgo the luxury of asking you just how much ass-busting you're currently doing when you're away from the keyboard.

Funny thing? Caring for the elderly. Of course, my irritation at the economic and political record of my elders doesn't halt me from caring for them in their years of need. As they say, "it's nothing personal."

Originally posted by Erongaricuaro
What, did your boomer parents embarrass you in front of your friends at the mall?

Like, for real, you know? *gum pop* They, like, TOTALLY wore, you know, argyle socks, with, like, sandals! I was just like, y'know, ohmigawwwwwd! I'm gonna die!



No, really, is this your best argument? 'Cause it makes you come off as a complete child. Might as well just throw in some "yo momma" jokes and make armpit noises while you're at it.

The "boomers" for the past few decades have been the major source of government revenue, paying income taxes, paying into social security, etc., while these funds began being raided by those of the generation before them - Reagan certainly was not from the boomer generation.

Reagan himself certainly was not. That we can agree on. But who got him elected... twice? He captured an awful lot of the younger adult vote; not people my age, but people in their thirties and forties. Prior to him, this was also the most politically apathetic generation, holding over from that hippy-dippy nonsense that if all the young'uns just "dropped out," then the system would grind to a halt.

The negative results of that were not immediately felt as boomer-generated revenue continued pouring in. Instead, it almost made Reagan appear a saint. It was like he had a spending spree with the family credit card. It was fun at the time, until the bills begin rolling in. The boomers work and the bills get paid on time but they have been paying off the debts accrued by their political leaders as they raided the system.

What fantasy world are you living in? Those bills aren't paid. They're still acruing interest, because people like you soil your depends whenever you see the word "tax." You've been on a spending spree, yeah, but with your kid's credit card. 'Course, truth be told, we're not shaping up to be any more intelligent, economically speaking. Maybe we just have a poor example to go on?

Be wary, those in the government will always be looking for ways to spend your money that is in the public trust. They will either look for ways to spend it directly, or to transfer it into less secure accounts that can disappear overnight. This was demonstrated last decade as there were calsl to privatize Social Security promising greater returns if they could invest it for you in stocks. Then in 2008 we witnessed how secure that would have been as those stocks collapsed. Some of my own savings, fortunately a small part of it, diminished by 40% while invested in those funds, virtually overnight.

Heh. The politicians have been gutting the nation's treasury for years amid the racaus cheers of the greedy generation; still doing it, in fact. Of course, when someone mentioned social security, the cheers became howls of rage. Well-placed howls of rage, of course, and defeating that stupidity was good for everyone, but it does show th mentality at work here.

"Put my kids and grandkids in debt slavery? HELL YEAH! BRING IT ON! Can't wait... wait.. social security? DON'T TOUCH MY MONEY!!!!!"

As the boomers begin retiring from the workforce you will likely feel the crunch left in their absence. You may have to open your eyes a bit wider than they are now to understand how this works. But as long as your leaders can point to your parents as being the culprits you will feel fine having someone to blame.

"My leaders," huh? Yep, as the boomers start dropping off (retirement isn't really an option for most of you guys, sad to say. You strangled that baby in the crib) there's going to be a crunch in the workforce. if it hadn't been for all the "free trade agreements," this would actually mean that younger workers would be able to demand higher wages. A tax crunch will also happen, but primarily because of the fact that taxation was cut by nearly 80% under Reagan, and has barely moved at all since; what the boomers pay is like giving a few drops of blood a day to a person suffering severe anemia.

I understand the situation at hand, and I'd wager I understand it better than you.

Remember how they balked at buying your Playstation 3 and told you your older model was still good? They never understood priorities, did they?

Again with this silliness. If you must know, the only game system I ever had was an old Atari that my older brother bought in 1984 with money from his front-yard carwashing business. Back when vid'juh games wuz HARD! *waves cane*

But as to your greater point, no, this situation never really cropped up in my family. Except recently when I've been trying to tell my mother that she can't afford the deluxe cable packages. Sadly recent phenomena, makes me worry about her a bit.

It is your patriotic duty now to blame your troubles on the older folks. Blame them that you have to work and your paycheck barely meets your expenses. Welcome to the real world.

One, I don't have a "patriotic duty." Two, certainly all my problems aren't the fault of older generations; but some of them are, and it's ridiculous that you guys are still gallivanting around, pretending to be the golden child, favored by the universe and incapable of wrong. Three, my paycheck covers my expenses quite well, as small as it is, 'cause unlike some, I've never had a fantasy of living beyond my means. Doing so may mean "success" to you, but it means "failure" to me.

What I'd really like is a decent benefits package, maybe even retirement. And... siiiiigh... a flying pony, while I'm at it.

You guy's are correct. This is a conspiricy the likes we have never could imagine. We have been taken to the cleaners. But that's OK. We'll solve the problem by voting out the corrupt politicians and vote in new..... Won't that make sense. I'm 57, out of a job, no future, scared and out of hope tp provide for my family. I can supposedly collect SS in five years [minimum for me at 62] but a hell of a lot can and is going to happen in this country before then. Good chance the system will fail by or before then. I'm like you guys, I've seen this country spiral down to the drain and it appears to be going faster now. You can thank all the politicians for it. I have lost complete faith in all that controls this country. TPTB are simply here to get as much gain and profit stuffed into their bank accounts as possible. Nothing else matters in this world. And of course, They could care less about the citizens. This whole scharade is completly out of control. And lastly, please forgive me on this one, But I believe even Jesus Christ [ one I used to have so much faith in ] has turned his back on us and has left us to our own destruction. MM

Reply to Walking Fox:

The parameters by which you categorize the "boomer generation" is convenient for the arguments you wish to make. I expect you and others will continue that trend as it suits your arguments and finger-pointing in the future.

According to the US Census Bureau defines the demographic birth boom as being between the years of 1946 - 1964. These are the years normally associated with the "boomer generation" and places their ages at roughly from 46 - 65 years of age today. This group would not include until very recently the AARP voting contingency nor the "elderly" you claim you care for when AFK.

For the most part this age group is not part of those that you claim as todays vocal complainers about illegal immigrants and other such concerns. That group is largely the younger adults working their way up in today's job market and see these immigrants as competition. The "boomers" are largely well along the way in their careers and considering and planning their retirement. The boomers in large part have been the backbone of the workforce for the past couple decades and your largest group of taxpayers.

In the complaints I have heard you make you seem to point to the generations just older or just younger than the boomers. Even the "obese slobs" you point to are not considered among the boomer generation as they would mostly have succumb to ill health by now, though I grant there could be a few.

No, I believe you find need to identify a particular group outside your own to blame that life is hard and your government is non-responsive to your wishes. The Baby Boomers are a group of citizens born in a span of about 18 years that have mostly been paying your way through their taxes and they are about to retire.

Looks like more folks will stop paying their tax's so they can afford to take care of their loved ones. My father was carrer military and always told me I wouldnt have to worry much about mom if anything happens to him, of course he took them for their word with the picture they painted. But after his passing, my mother still shelled out 10k to have him buried. Then of course the govmnt started taking away her benefits as a retired dependent wich really hurt since my mother has MS, try finding a doctor that takes blue Cross or Sheild.

The care (what they call it) is not care at all, but nothing more then human guine pig tests, always the same thing..... We dont have anything thats showing a cure yet, but we would like you to try this and see what happens and then we will make adjustments from there. But thats always been the story with Military medical, half ass and very little real medical care.
So with SS being cut, Disabled benefits being cut, military benefits being cut, having a 96 yr old grandmother that needs care and a mother with MS, taxes being rasied locally, we have had to pull ourselves up by our own boot straps around here and look out for ourselves.
Im waiting for that day when the IRS comes to get me for not paying, but the time has come where family and friends come first, and the polititians paycheck gets cancled. Im only a drop in the bucket but its mesures like this that need to be taken for the waking process to start. And to tell you the truth, IT FEELS DAMN GOOD FOR A CHANGE!!!

Originally posted by TheWalkingFox

Originally posted by Erongaricuaro
What, did your boomer parents embarrass you in front of your friends at the mall?

Like, for real, you know? *gum pop* They, like, TOTALLY wore, you know, argyle socks, with, like, sandals! I was just like, y'know, ohmigawwwwwd! I'm gonna die!

.

edit on 20-1-2011 by TheWalkingFox because: (no reason given)

Well, if the shoe fits...

Yes, the Reagan debts continue to accrue interest. We've been making the payments but that's going to be your concern now. Don't blame Reagan on me. Most of us were Democrats. You remind us of that everyday. Your argument is convenient for you if you tell it your way.

Hippies? No, those were the War Baby generation and older. I was too young to be part of that crowd.

I am one of the first of the Boomers that is retired. I retired at 53 and left the country. I'm still too young for Social Security. I don't absolutely need it but an extra $1500 a month will be nice when I decide to draw it. Don't worry, it's my money.

reply to post by barkingdogamato


Yes they have stole much of our money that belongs to the people and they are still stealing as we speak. This will keep on going because they have decided that we Americans will do nothing to stop this. We will sit by and watch TV and look at each other and say how does this happen, all the while not wanting to understand the truth that the government is not for the people its for the people who run the government and has been like that for sometime. They don't care about retired people because the people in the government and there families are taken care of so what do they care about the common people. When they leave office they all get pensions that dwarf what we get from things like our 401K, OH but wait they have taken much of that money from us as well while we sit here and shake our heads as to how this could happen. Most people don't want the truth they want people to run for office with Hope and change, or a new start, a new face, someone who we think won't be like the last guy but its really who is behind the curtain not who we see. We forget the next day what has been done to us and go about our daily work day and think about the next item we can buy to make us happy or the next movie we can watch to escape our reality or go to the corner and buy some drugs from our local drug dealer. Instead of trying to fix the problem to many people are trying to forget there problems and only thinking of themselves and not others. When the police and government officials are not in your corner what do you do? They run this town and tell us lies to make us think what they tell is the truth and they have been doing this for along time now and each time we forget about the last guy and we buy what they tell us hook line and sinker. Will it change? Not until they bleed the American common people out of the last bit of weath they have and make us all either government rich or common poor. It is a sad time in our history to be able to see the future yet see that nothing is being done to help us because we are being run by evil. It will change however that has already been promised to us but is it the change you were thinking of because there is always 2 sides to each story and 2 sides to any 1 thought.

reply to post by TheWalkingFox


You seem determined to continue to paint a large segment of the American population with a broad brush so your self-admitted theory will hold up. That whole "grown-up spoiled child" stereotype you're using may fit some individuals, but in what generation has it not done so? To characterize an entire group of people in this way is IMO overly simplistic, inaccurate, and a clear-cut case of scapegoating. I'm not going to argue with it, as it seems that you'll only keep returning to it ad nauseam.

Looking at some of your other posts, I think we would probably agree more than disagree on the state of this country today, & what's going on. We do, however, differ sharply in our opinions on how things got this way.

This is in no way a blind defense of my generation & those coming after; many have proven to be easily led to whatever conclusion suits those in power, have been satisfied with no more that what is put before their noses, & most damaging of all, will fight with fierce determination to remain willfully ignorant. In short, just like all other generations, both preceding & succeeding mine.

Sorry, but these people saying all the people who want these benefits are greedy, lazy etc. must not be able to process simple, basic information.

These people have paid into these funds all their lives. Let me repeat that in bold. THESE PEOPLE HAVE PAID INTO THESE FUNDS ALL THEIR LIVES.

Yet how DARE them actually want the money. I mean, what kind of mind actually processes information that way?

Furthermore, the Baby Boomers paid MORE. The Greenspan Commission in the early 1980s said these troubles could be avoided if a little more was witheld from their checks. That way, a surplus would be built up and when the time came there would be plenty of money and no need to cut benefits.

But the money was "borrowed" to support tax cuts. TRILLIONS of dollars were taken. We were told not to worry about it. We were getting "T-bills" (U.S. Treasury securities) -- and the U.S. Government would never default on them. And you know what? They probably won't, but the U.S. Government is not obliged to pay back the money it borrowed on any schedule. And unlike all other securities sold by the Treasury to foreign governments and wealthy individuals, the T-bills in Social Security pay no interest. NOTHING. Nada. The average Joe evidently doesn't merit getting interest when the government "borrows" his retirement money.

But now, people who worked all their lives are being called "lazy" and "greedy" simply because they want the benefits they paid for.

I'm a little over 50, and I know one thing for danged sure....most of the couples that were my age and older, had their babies....AFTER THEY WERE MARRIED....and stayed together, worked hard themselves to support them...they didn't have three or four kids, all from different fathers, while busy making the next with another man!! The men saw supported those kids as an obligation, the women worked if they had to. My sister was a little older than me, and yes, she was a single mom, around the time when welfare was taking it's present form. ya know what....SHE WORKED! She was trained by the new welfare office as a keypunch operator, that who most of the welfare workers were back then, the recipients!
Now days, it seems like the school girls are having a contest, who can get pregnant first....
lazy, spoiled....heck, look at your own generation!

as far as thinking that anything will improve for the younger people if they just can get rid of the social security??? who do you think paid for so many of ya alls education, who do you think paid for all the tax cuts, welfare handouts, medicaid, wars, foreign aid, high salaries for the gov't workers and great benefit package, ect....heck, they've used the social security money!!!
The money they got from the regular taxes, just wasn't good enough for them, so they robbed social security, and the pension programs, and it just wasn't enough for them, so they, and their banking buddies thought up this nice IRA scheme, and it just wasn't good enough for them, so they came up with this great real estate racket.....and it just ISN'T ENOUGH FOR THEM!!!
This is what I foresee if they do away with the social security....
well, our houses are next to worthless, our ira's are dried up, we've spent the last few decades with two working families not only having to support themselves, but also another,......oh, I can't wait to have a baby, oh I don't want to work, ohm I am too socially inempt to hold a job, oh.....please pay my way....family!!! Well, some of us were living in worse conditions than their taxmoney was giving to others! But, oh, ya, they should have taking food away from their children...hey, that would be you younger brats that are now wanting to bite the hands that fed you all those years, wouldn't it??.....and save it for their retirement........well, needless to say, the savings isn't there!
so, well, what is gonna happen??? these older people will stay longer in their jobs, and thus fewer jobs will open up for you!! many volunteer hours will be lost, since it is the seniors that have been filling many of them, and well....either society willl have to do without, or someone will have to be hired to replace them...hey, jobs opening up for you, but remember, they were filled by volunteer elderly people, so the pay will probably be crap! and well....mommy and daddy will not be available to babysit your kids so you can actually have some of your paycheck instead of owing the childcare center more than you got paid! But, eventually, the body does run out! and guess who will be expected to care for these elderly then?? why their children, of course...hey, that's you, isn't it??
and guess what....they gov't will still be spending like drunken sailors, your taxes are gonna still be higher, you will still be paying for those who are unable or unwilling to work, at least within your own family unit....
and you will still be taxed to oblivion, and you will still see that dollar shrinking in value!

t

The boomers could be the number one voting block to be contended with and could get some of the scum like this senator and others like him out of offiice.

It's really too bad they've allowed themselves to be divided and manipulated along party, racial, religious, and false social-issue lines that took their eye of priorities.

reply to post by ClintK

fact one, the treasuries in social security is payable on demand!!
fact two....they draw interest....and that interest is more than enough to cover what is being paid out, and more, the trust fund's balance sheet will continue growing in value.
it's the gov't that is broke, bankrupt, and well....unlike all the griping about us peons needing to pay our bills, they don't think there is an obligation to pay their bills....
have they slowed down the spending yet? how many stupid unnecessary projects do ya think I could dig up in a day if I reallly tried?? gee, you'd think that before they started thinking about obliterating the social security, they would forget about such things as trout bridges, and well...bridges to nowhere for the people!!
maybe they are hoping us old folks will take a walk down those bridges?
I am also wondering, how many people on ats that are crying now to do away with the social security were also the ones screaming about their precious tax cuts?
NO!!!! DON'T TAKE FROM US!! TAKE FROM THE ELDERLY HELPLESS INSTEAD!!!
But, we are selfish, and lazy!!!

Whoever this guy is, he is 100% right.

It seems that "they" try to put the blame on whoever they can, but it is them causing the problems.

Now I shall ask a million, no... trillion dollar question: What are WE going to do about it.

hotpockets128

reply to post by hotpockets128


#e in one hand, and a dream in the other??

reply to post by Patrioitinsheepclothing


It seems as if that is true, but you never know.

Maybe one day everyone can wake from their coma and seewhat is really going on.

Today at school I learned after WWI that Americans who opposed the war were eaither fined or jailed. After the lesson I talked to my teacher about it and we had an interesting conversation. He even made a connection the the "Patriot" Act.

hotpockets128