Retirees over the age of sixty two in the United States are estimated by an independent financial survey to be sitting on over one trillion dollars in total assets. That money mostly lies in financial institutions gathering interest while needy family members suffer impatiently waiting for the day when it will be their inheritance. But not all seniors are that callous, they give away their money to loved ones before they die. There is no better way for the elderly to show that they care. Those that do can enjoy the pleasure of watching their money being spent. It is a joy that they would never experience if they waited until their death.
The country is in a recession that could be ended by an influx of spending money. The economic stimulus money that will be received by tax payers during the summer months will help but it is not enough. More money is needed. The economy would improve and the recession ended if the trillion dollars held by seniors was spent. It is up to them to end the recession in a loving way. Immediate handing over of their unneeded assets to loved ones would cause a spending spree the nation has never witnessed before. It would put the unemployed back to work and end home foreclosures. I am sure if our elderly realized their power to help they would quickly respond.
I had a close friend who suffered with a nervous disorder all of his life. He lived with the help of a government welfare program which just gave him enough to survive. His parents were millionaires in the real estate business and owned at least twenty apartment houses. They let their son live rent free in one of them. But they gave him nothing more. I spoke with him many times over the years and listened to his complaints. He had little to eat and was lonely. The only hope he had was that one day his parents would die and leave him with their millions. They both were dead when he reached the age of seventy two but the money was left to his two sisters and their children. All he inherited was the right to continue living rent free. I never witnessed such cruelty.
Many seniors are sitting on more money than they need while family members no longer living with them are destitute or have financial problems.
We are all putting money into a pot, and some of us aren’t using the money or the resources that we end up helping out. There are a lot of programs that are out there to help support lower waged workers or people that can’t find jobs. Some of these programs are food stamps, medicare, and lower income housing. Everyone helps pay for these things, but there are only a certain amount of people that can use them. If you make a certain amount of money and it is too high, then you don’t qualify for them, even though maybe it isn’t high enough to live comfortably. Retirement may not come as easy for the younger generation because of the fact that people are using the social security, and we may not have the amount that we need when we retire. How our society is set up, you almost get more taken away the harder you work, and for the ones that don’t make as much, get all of the
The push for Congress to pass legislation protecting the rights of employees and their retirement was inevitable. Retirement plans are extremely important for all working individuals. Having funds to keep or exceed ones current standard of living and to enjoy one’s life beyond expectations after retire...
Another $102 billion would be used to help victims of the recession with unemployment insurance, health care, food stamps and job training, while jobless aid would also be increased by an extra $25 a week. As we can see, the evidence is clear and growing by the day, the Recovery Act is working to soften the greatest economic downfall since the Great Depression and is laying down a new foundation for economic growth.... ... middle of paper ... ...
“The Great Depression was a worldwide economic slump of the 1930’s” (Fetzer; p.338). The Great Depression caused a catastrophic amount of grief and distress for the citizens of the United States. Some of these citizens, however, faced more problems which caused grief and distress than others. Among those citizens were the mentally ill. During the era of the Great Depression, the mentally handicapped were treated unfairly in almost every aspect of their lives; this included how society treated them, how they were treated medically, and even how their personal lives were affected.
In America’s early days before the kickoff of industry, there was little need for retirement savings for a few key reasons. First of all, people were dying at a much earlier age; most people didn’t live past 38, whereas in 1900, 60 years of age was common for about 40 percent of the population and 15 percent experienced 80 years of life. Another reason for the irrelevance of social security in the 19th century and earlier was that people were usually living rurally on farms with extended families to take care of them. Furthermore, the Civil War also didn’t allow the government much economic room to consider providing a service such as social security. However, after the Civil War, pensions were a form of social security for civil war veterans that carried into their retirement. Unfortunately these pensions provided support for only a very small portion of the population; not even one percent of Americans received these pensions. Despite a much lower need for social security in the 18th ...
When the government provides elders with medical case, they relieve the middle class from the burden of caring for their relatives, through medical bill payments. Both classes also benefit from the welfare state (social benefits provided by company employers). The federal government ensures social welfare through tax expenditures, whereby benefits are subsidized and the employer employee payments are not taxed. Tax expenditures allow the government to finance these classes without utilizing direct spending. These expenditures are costly to the government, however they make home ownership less expensive, which benefits society as a whole. Congress has tried to limit several programs, although their popularity trumps Congress’s
Kemp, B. J., & Mosqueda, L. A. (2005). Elder Financial Abuse: An Evaluation Framework and Supporting Evidence. Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 53(7), 1123-1127. doi:10.1111/j.l532-5415.2005.53353.x
Despite the retirement income crisis, Social Security should be expanded, not reduced. In Arthur Delaney’s article on the Huffington Post, Senator Bernie Sanders stated, “With the middle class struggling and more people living in poverty than ever before, we cannot afford to make life even more difficult for seniors.” A push to adopt CPI-E, rather than a switch to a “chained” consumer price index that cuts retiree benefits, would m...
Social security, since instituted in 1935, has kept many elderly people from running below the poverty line (Hosansky). In 2015, the Social Security Administration predicted that the funds would be depleted by 2034 (Max). This poses a serious threat to the living situation of future generations when they retire. Our elderly, by today’s standards, enjoy a comfortable lifestyle. They are able to retire and still make over one thousand dollars a month. Some people also have private pensions which allow them to live even more comfortably. But with social security funds running out, we must ask the inevitable question. Is it worth having social security anymore? Social security should be kept. One must never fully rely on social security. In addition
In today’s society, what was once said to be true and taken as fact regarding older people is no longer the whole story. As Laslett states, “At all times before the middle of the twentieth century and all over the globe the greater part of human life potential has been wasted, by people dying before their allotted time was up.” (1989a), and to a great extent a lot
In addition, declining birthrates may cause people to have less familial care and support as they age. To be able to provide the necessary care for senior citizens, a government funded long term care insurance program is needed. Medicare is the federal program that provides health coverage for people who are 65 and older (Green, 2003). Although many assume that Medicare provides long-term care, these benefits are very limited and are not efficient enough to accommodate the much needed care services for older adults. For example, Medicare programs do not help pay for personal care services such as eating, dressing or using the bathroom, even though these “activities of daily life” are the most needed services for most seniors (Green, 2003).
In result of social security, people aged sixty-five and older are the second-richest age group in the United States. Political economists recently estimated the government spends $350 billion on senior citizens, more than on national defense! In conclusion, the vulnerability of senior citizens and their reliance on these programs has caused an explosion in senior citizen voter turnout and open political participation. The fear of losing benefits was very strong in the 1996 election, where both President Clinton and Senator Dole were found to campaign strongly in areas with an abundance of senior citizens, such as in Florida. In result of the fear of losing their civil rights and continued use of these programs, senior citizens continue to be very politically active which causes a strong influence on the president.
Tons of Americans are in debt; by the end of 2008 Americans reached a $972.73 billion debt due to credit cards. In the 1930’s, President Roosevelt came up with several plans to get people working again. Some of those, including Civilian Conservation Corps, Works Progress Administration and Public Works Administration, were successful. We could apply those same types of programs to our society today. During Roosevelt’s term, government was very involved and had a lot of power.
Retirement is one of the most important crossroads we face in life. It involves a fundamental change in lifestyle, one that calls for a totally new outlook on how we approach each day. All our lives we have been conditioned to think in terms of saving for our retirement years. Society has created this mystique about this time in our lives when we magically transform into different people with different lives when really we are the same people with different day to day lives. According to Medina, (2012) planning for retirement isn’t a "walk in the park" because for many people, debts are high while income is low.
Allers, Kimberly Seals. "How Fit Are Your Finances?" Ebony 68.9 (2013): 93-97. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2013. Bauer, Gabrielle, and John Southerst. "A promising retirement: your life, your way." Maclean's 18 Feb. 2013: 37+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 15 Nov. 2013.