Quote:
Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz
I fail to see what any of this has to do with people being scammed out of their pensions.
Whenever I meet hardliners on any particularly important social topic it always comes down to this:
If the person has no problem, they'd vote for "solution: no."
If the person faces the problem, they'd vote for "solution: yes."
While that isn't especially surprising, it speaks to self-centered answers as opposed to answers that address what is really right.
As an example, consider our lawmakers. Very few are of modest means. Why would we expect that they could identify with people who experience the issues?
Doesn't matter whether they are liberal or conservative. In the end, most turn out to vote for what is best for them rather than what is right for the country.
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I hope you don't think I'm a hardliner. I'm being realistic, while the hardliners, IMHO, are the ones insisting that business as usual must continue.
The point I am trying to make, and apparently not very clearly, is that the pension system is a predicament, and not a problem. The numbers don't add up in the bigger picture, and there is NO workable solution. Some wealth will be redistributed (stolen again), some will be wiped out, and benefits will be lost. You describe it as people being "scammed" out of their pension, while a typical millennial might describe it as "it's stolen money anyway, from me and my future, so they deserve to be stiffed."
A pension "earned" at the expense of someone's future is not really a pension. A pension earned is when money is set aside, the principal never touched, and interest potentially added in if the investment is good. That's not what's described as a pension these days, especially for public servants.
I'd agree that it doesn't matter from a political perspective, but I'd disagree that voting is a factor. The oligarchs long ago hijacked the system, and their methods of keeping the masses polarized over irrelevant issues is quite effective. I'd also disagree about the effectiveness of any solution, no matter who voted for it, as the rule of law is more a nice concept than a reality any longer.
So when it comes to "scamming people" out of their pensions, it's important to determine who's winning and who's losing, and consider "fairness" as rather insignificant. IMHO, it's a much clearer picture to look at in terms of class, instead of politics, race, or generation. And further scrutiny of that picture reveals the very top members of "the club" not wanting to share their wealth, and the growing bottom portion of the 95+% fighting over the shrinking pie.
The last couple of days have seen reports of the sorry state of American's retirement accounts, and that the kids are figuring out they've been fleeced:
https://www.studyfinds.org/third-ame...ement-savings/
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/wa...teid=rss&rss=1
Quote:
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Young adults are financially struggling, and already have to make tough choices about what they can spend their money on, said David Yankovich, 31, who had originally retweeted the story saying the piece was condescending and missed other factors at play, such as the state of health care in the U.S. “It’s so hard when you’re in your 20s to even get ahead — by the time you’re in your 30s, you’re not devastatingly broke anymore,” he said. “When you’re that hard-core strapped for money, you’re not thinking of savings, you’re thinking about eating,” he said.
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So, let me connect the dots here, in my way of thinking (which may, or may not even be close to what happens, but we'll see):
- pensions will continue to be underfunded, or default
- with declining SS benefits via stagflation, many senior citizens will struggle
- with less opportunity and no chance to outwork a robot, or pay an equivalent amount into "the fund" at $30K per year, SS will eventually blow up
- with options becoming more limited, expect .GOV to repeat their attack on the middle class as they did with the ACA, and freeze 401Ks and IRAs. The younger kids ain't got enough worth stealing, the top .1% are part of the club.
- expect the younger generations, with nothing to lose, to support larger government, more social programs, "free" income, and by proxy, larger and more intrusive government.
- expect the younger generations to continue their trend of a gig economy, working only when necessary and being satisfied with a far lower standard of living then boomers. They know the future will be a good time to have no debt and have no assets.
