I recently read an article that basically said there are too many of us oldies but goodies and not enough working-age people and that’s creating a bleak economic prospect. I don’t necessarily like critics acting like because I’ve been fortunate enough to grow older, I’m to blame for some economic challenge… but some of the memes are funny. 😉
Critics claim that as the number of retirees grows, fewer working-age people remain to support social programs like pensions, healthcare, and Social Security so governments are forced to raise taxes or accumulate debt to cover these costs. On the other hand, economic challenges are influenced more by policy decisions, technological change, and global markets than by age demographics. Aren’t they?
When I was 20 years younger…
I never even thought about social security, retirement, and medicare until I hit retirement age. Now that I’m paying attention, I know in fiscal year 2024, the federal government spent roughly 21–22% of the total federal budget on Social Security – and over $1 trillion on Medicare. Youch!
Sorry, but I’m not going to throw in the towel to promote economic growth.
I pay a huge amount of money for taxes and insurance. I pump a shit ton into the economy buying groceries and paying utilities.
And somebody has to take care of hounds that no one else wants. 😉
I’ve always been a firm believer of focusing on things we CAN change as opposed to complaining about what we can’t. I don’t know of any human that thinks everyone of retirement age should be exterminated.
So how about we focus on other spending options… like how to reduce the cost of flipping healthcare?
Now you know: Mariah Carey makes $2.7-3.3M per year from the song, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”