I’ve been hearing about this pending “Retirement Crisis” for as long as I can remember.
The above is a headline from 1994. If you have a subscription to Newspapers.com you can go back even further to watch the “crisis” develop in front of your very own eyes. Yet, according to research here, here, here the VAST majority of retirees are doing just fine. In fact, I’d invite you to conduct your own poll. Just ask retirees how they’re doing.
So, the crisis discussed 25 years ago hasn’t matriculated, it would appear. And yet, here we are again…
Who exactly are these Americans who can’t afford retirement?
All this reminds me part and parcel of the climate change crisis. The scaremongering of CO2 is nothing more than an attempt to get the government more involved in the day to day affairs of your life. In fact, AOC’s chief of staff admitted such a thing. (One of the reasons I like AOC is she is not afraid to tell the truth about what the left’s agenda is. Thankfully!)
And as with the climate change crisis, the retirement crisis never goes away. The advocates just keep moving the goal-posts whenever their previous predictions do not come to fruition.
The irony of all ironies, is the lady who wrote the above article happens to be a writer “who focuses on solutions to some of the world’s largest problems, from climate change to homelessness.”
In fact, she even states that in retirement, “(c)limate change is introducing new risks: In many areas, there’s a greater chance that a flood or wildfire might force someone to suddenly move. The economic impact of climate chaos could also tank investments.”
So, what exactly are the solutions to the “retirement crisis”? Well, similar to the climate change “crisis”, MORE GOVERNMENT!
A Government-Mandated Retirement Plan
Huh? Every time I get paid I see 6.2% being taken out of my paycheck, 12.4% now that I’m self-employed. Where is that money going? Oh, yeah, it’s going to our “government-mandated retirement plan” called Social Security. But, apparently, 1 government program is not enough. So now we need ANOTHER government mandated plan? Yeah, no thanks.
State-backed IRAs
“In Oregon, a program that started in 2017 is now phasing in every employer in the state. Eventually, all businesses will either have to offer a standard retirement plan or sign up for the program, called Oregon Saves, which automatically enrolls workers in a 401(k).”
Let me read that to you again, “eventually ALL businesses will have to…” and if they don’t? The owners go to jail? You see where this is going, no?
It always starts out small and innocent enough. But because the government never works, it will always require more and more compliance, which means more and more penalties. And thus, less freedom. But hey, whatever, as long as we solve the retirement crisis, right?
Expand Social Security
Ah, so we DO have a government-mandated retirement program. But it’s not doing enough, so not only do we need ANOTHER one, we need to expand the one we currently have? Got it!
It will work better this time. Why? Because socialism is always judged not by its results but rather by its promises, and thus, make the promise and that’s good enough.
Expand Medicare and Medicaid
Even better, because while there is a definite crisis in retirement due to people not saving enough, Medicare and Medicaid can come to the rescue for health care. After all, those programs are on solid financial footing, no? And with expanded Medicare and Medicaid, AND Social Security, we won’t need to tax anyone more to pay for this. So, employees will still have the same amount of money to put away towards their retirement as they do now…
Oh, right, they aren’t putting enough away as it is… thus the retirement crisis… hmmmm, how do we get around that? No worries. Again, socialism is judged on its promises, not results. Just make the promises and that’s enough.
Build “Affordable” Housing
Now this is funny! California is mandating photovoltaic panels on every new home. There are restrictions up the wazoo of how and where you can build. Can’t build next to that pool of mosquito-infested water. It’s a wetland. On top of that, we’ll throw even more rent-control in the mix.
And then tell everyone we need “more affordable housing”! Yeah, living in a fantasy world must be nice.
And it only gets worse from there. Folks, relying on kids in the media as your source of information for pretty much anything nowadays is bordering on masochism. They do not have your best interests at heart. They are idealogues, weaned on leftist propaganda who take their marching orders from think-tankers such as Teresa Ghilarducci, “who is an economics professor who leads the Retirement Equity Lab at The New School.”
You’ll find ole Teresa anywhere and everywhere there is a crisis talking about the need for more government intervention.
The first thing one may want to ask is, “what if there is NO crisis? What does that do to folks like Ghilarducci who’ve made a career around said crisis?” Of course, I’d ask the same thing of the climate change doomsayers, Michael Mann et al. What if there is no crisis there either? What do these people then do for work? Go to electricians school?
It’s a very, very lucrative job, promoting a crisis. And even better if you’re a big government proponent, not only can you get rich, but you can get expanded government too. And on a side note, someone’s gotta run these government bureaucracies, no? Who knows, maybe it can be you…
Actually, now that I think about it, I need a crisis to promote. Thoughts?