tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post6792962815302782346..comments2024-03-29T01:07:30.224-07:00Comments on Had Enough Therapy?: The Retirement ConundrumStuart Schneidermanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-36267974557527928672012-12-31T09:34:21.776-08:002012-12-31T09:34:21.776-08:00Thanks for sharing, Stuart. Zuckerman's analys...Thanks for sharing, Stuart. Zuckerman's analysis is penetrating and concerns us all. Lets just hope there's some testicular fortitude somewhere to say what's so and make effective choices. Because right now, the band on the Titanic continues to play "Ragtime," and the passengers believe the signal flares are fireworks. We've gotta grow up and take our medicine. No one said you have to like it, and no one's going to besmirch you for flinching, but we've all gotta take it, so open up wide...<br /><br />TipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-15312802717428135312012-12-31T08:37:49.724-08:002012-12-31T08:37:49.724-08:00Thank you, Tip.
To add fuel to the fire, here'...Thank you, Tip.<br /><br />To add fuel to the fire, here's a link to a Mort Zuckerman column about how bad our financial situation really is:<br /><br />http://www.usnews.com/opinion/mzuckerman/articles/2012/12/28/mort-zuckerman-brace-for-an-avalanche-of-unfunded-debtStuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-61584263051502522602012-12-31T08:32:41.388-08:002012-12-31T08:32:41.388-08:00One more thing on this point... We'd have to g...One more thing on this point... We'd have to grow our way out of this conundrum, which the Obama Administration is doing everything within its power to make sure we cannot do. We are becoming Greece. A difference in benefits within an identical age cohort that Buttonwood is talking about matters little when there won't be a system to worry about. Bankruptcy solves and creates its own problems. After all, the Greeks can't inflate their way out of their mess because they're tied to the Euro. We can. How do you suspect hat will turn out? The issue is systemic, not one of minor policy diversions Buttonwood reflects upon.<br /><br />TipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-59582853026515130532012-12-31T08:26:05.447-08:002012-12-31T08:26:05.447-08:00What has always intrigued me about the concept of ...What has always intrigued me about the concept of "fairness" in conversations like these is the limitation of its scope. Buttonwood is comparing the results based on socioeconomic levels within the same age cohort (I.e, a retiring lawyer at 67, vs. a retiring stonemason at the same age). That's fine, as that's what Buttonwood has chosen as his subject. And it does sound unfair on its face, as these people chose differ professions, yet are not receiving equal public pension assistance, ostensibly becaus of class distinctions. Fair enough. Noted.<br /><br />Yet Buttonwood also neglects to mention the lawyer and stonemason's neglect, on a national/generational level, to reproduce themselves. Because of available and affordable contraception, they were able to have smaller families. This would be viewed as desirable in a number of ways, notwithstanding the cold, hard fact that expenses associated with the modern child are very high, particularly when upward mobility is wished (an almost universal American value). Yet these public pension systems have progressively become a giant Ponzi scheme, mostly due to our 67-year-old's choices not to have more children, and on a scale where we cannot possibly bring in enough young, skilled immigrants to equalize. Public pensions like Social Security used to have much larger payer-to-beneficiary ratios. These numbers continue to get worse and worse, and the impact of such systems on those (fewer) young people actively working to fund them becomes more and more burdensome. The political class creates smoke screens such as "means testing," which are not viable solutions for an even short-term fix. The tsunami of deficits to pay expected Baby Boomer beneficiaries is too large.<br /><br />So who's talkin' fair? Again, with Buttonwood's age cohort comparison, we avoid the very real issue of public pension viability entirely. It's a distraction. Is it fair to demand that the disproportionately few young people (their numbers diminished for the reasons outlined above) to fund the retirement of the "elderly?" (Sorry folks, 67 ain't old anymore) I assert it is not fair in any demonstrable way. It is this way because that's the deal under a social contract that has been skewed because of advances that have come about since he system was introduced. Furthermore, the public employee pensions are drowning governments at all levels because they have lost all reference to sane compensation theory. Forget the police and fire fighters, explain to me why I have to listen to my 41-year-old classmates who are public school teachers go on about how they shortly will become eligible or buy-outs with 85% of their full salary as their pension value (for life) and full medical care (for life)? Please explain that to me. Meanwhile, I hear of many recent teacher certification graduates who cannot get jobs in this same school system because there are none to be had, and enrollment is beginning to ebb.<br /><br />Again, I ask who's talkin' fair? I hear lots about sustainability regarding the Earth, but precious little about the sustainability of our government and public pension systems. Buttonwood misses this big picture item entirely. And one other thing... beyond the AARP's rhetoric, I find it very difficult to believe that the majority of public pensioners believe it's fair that their children are going to have their economic futures put in hock because of the insanity of his public pension Ponzi scheme. The true foundation of this public pension menace is not whether a lawyer and stonemason retiring today are being treated fairly, it's whether we have enough lawyers and stonemasons in the next 30 years to deal with the generational tsunami of beneficiaries!<br /><br />TipAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-20030027841049447702012-12-31T07:05:45.070-08:002012-12-31T07:05:45.070-08:00One of the secrets to retirement is to not retire ...One of the secrets to retirement is to not retire from life. Retirement is the time to accomplish all those goals that working made impossible. We are NOT defined by the jobs we did, but by the actions we take to become a person that tries to be the best one can be at life.<br />Wealth is a way not to worry about safety, security and survival needs. It is why those who are wealthy, by any means of accounting, find ways to give back.Dennishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14962996070458991675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-29584265174261622602012-12-30T16:03:05.000-08:002012-12-30T16:03:05.000-08:00My job (due to the idiots who run the place) has b...My job (due to the idiots who run the place) has become a daily battle, with none of the former satisfaction. The tension of dealing with this is high. Hard to imagine how retirement could be worse for my health.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-81326615914614168712012-12-29T14:08:00.253-08:002012-12-29T14:08:00.253-08:00Canada has raised the retirement age for benifits ...Canada has raised the retirement age for benifits to 67. Of course, this will start in I believe 14 years. According to some paleo-archeologists that I have read, over our 2 million year developement, we have been genetically defined to need strenous activities. If this little Christmas break can be used as a case sample, I would have to agree. My back is in spasms again, I feel lethargic, and my mind is dull. <br /><br />Back to work - HOORAY!DeNihilistnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-45432045900477170032012-12-29T11:40:12.043-08:002012-12-29T11:40:12.043-08:00As far as I can tell, they compare people who have...As far as I can tell, they compare people who have retired with people of the same age who have not retired.Stuart Schneidermanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12784043736879991769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8078379512095504946.post-21296838115445004452012-12-29T10:22:26.820-08:002012-12-29T10:22:26.820-08:00 Having factored in all of the relevant variables,... Having factored in all of the relevant variables, Behncke concludes:<br /><br />We find that retirement increases the risk of being diagnosed with a chronic condition. In particular, it raises the risk of severe cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks, strokes or angina. We also find that it increases the risk of being diagnosed with cancer, but we cannot disentangle whether the likelihood of diagnosis or the actual incidence has increased. <br /><br />Is it retirement and a less active life, or is it....AGING?<br />Sam L.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00996809377798862214noreply@blogger.com