Tax, Tax, Tax.

Chuck the problem is people after the age of 50 make up the second largest unemployment age bracket behind teenagers. 1 in 3 people will become disabled after age 55 within there working adult life. That is not a solution. Look around your office. How many older people working. Full retirement is now 67 years old. See many people above age 62 working? It is not in many cases because they do not want to.
The sign of an advanced society is how well it cares for the sick and the elderly.

 

Gov needs to outsource jobs to the private sector. The private sector is based on profitability and competition. Right now it is just a joke.

 

I am painfully aware of that.

Age discrimination is a big problem that needs to be dealt with a lot more seriously.

The hiring authorities that practice ageism will get their just rewards when they get old enough. They will find out they were not smart enough, etc to avoid it.

 

My wife and I have a good friend who is in her early 60's. She invites us to her house when she has a party. We talk the talk with her friends all in there 60's. Many as they age there memory just is not as good as it used to be. One old guy works at Home Depot retail. Loves the job. He is the first to admit that his memory is not what it was when he was a young man. Can't remember all the products and what problems they solve. He is used to Plumbing and Paint. If he fills in another dept he is lost. People ask him what isle is bulbs, can't recall. He can't lift heavy items. Standing on his feet for 6 hours or longer is killer on his back. By the third day he is on advil every 6 hours. When he gets home he eats and crashes. To tired to do much anything else. Much different than his Sales office job when he was a younger man. Tried getting an office job. No one would hire him. His friend sells Real Estate. She admits that working on commission only is a challenge. She for the first time in her life is getting past due on small bills like utilities and drives a 12 year old car that is paid in full. Putting gas in the car is a burden. Some days she just eats Kraft mac and cheese for 99 cents a serving. She is quick to say, please don't waste my time and I wont waste yours. She is making a few sales with referrals from friends. Another lady after 30 years as a loan officer at a local bank got laid off. She was shocked. It seems that she is not managing as many clients as her much younger bankers. Her sweet manner is not enough for todays strict production standards. She has been to many interviews at Banks but no one hires her. It seems her reflexis are too slow. Need I go on. One lady cannot afford medicine so she skips every third day her blood pressure meds. Another her husband passed away and she needs to work part time to make ends meet with her SS survivor benefits. She can't find a job. I told my wife never to invite me again to one of her parties it is down right depressing. She said that's what old people do, they complain. Misery loves company is the motto.

Yes gov needs to reduce taxes but not at the expense of our elderly.

 

Two common mistakes commonly made in economics:

1) Economics is linear? The idea that a controlling bank has an ability to smoothly adjust and regulate economic behavior is deeply believed, but history keeps telling a different story. Nothing can happen for years and then Ka-Pow, huge changes in a matter of days. Yet the myth never dies and all Fed decisions are based on what should happen from their faulty educations, not what history has shown.

2) Economic response is immediate? The worlds economic system is interlinked between all currencies. Yet adjustments of one currency is expected to affect just that currency.....at least that is the way the Fed acts. The worlds economic system works on time scales of years and decades. The drivers in the Fed act as if they are driving a Corvette but they are actually driving the worlds largest oil tanker. Once it starts moving in the direction they want, it will be unstoppable for many years.

 

yes a tax on hybrids suck.

 

you mean "their"
...memory is the first thing to go, or is it the second thing? dang it, can't recall

 

It's a race what fails first your body or you're mind.

 

^^^Gene Wilder is one of my favorites

 

In California it asks if your collecting a pension or social security or have any income. Income reduces the unemployment benefit. If you lie they will catch you. You will pay the money back plus penalties.

There are people who cannot find a Job, go on unemployment, when that ends go on social security. That is typical.

There are private Annuities out there. So if your 65 and give the insurance company $100,000 they will give you $700 a month until you die with survivor and when your survivor dies the insurance company keeps your money. Rates change based on age and interest rates but lock in at contract.
The insurance company is investing your money.
Many retires just use the 4% rule which hardly exhausts the principal and the heirs keep the principal when they die. Close to an annuity and you keep the principal. Some do a combination of both. That with social security, 401K, private pension, assets like real estate all factor in.

I only know this after my parents asked for an opinion on there retirement plan. They have no worries.


That and a Buck fifty gets you a cup of coffee

 

Unfortunately the couple I spoke of were collecting SS and unemployment at the same time. Not sure which state they were collecting it from, because they had bought their retirement home (mini mansion) here before they stopped working. Funny, he always talked about how "poor" they are and how expensive everything is, but they have largest, most expensive home in the community and he just bought a $50k vehicle. I guess if you know how to game the system, why not?

 

1. But people can't get hired after 50 except for much lower wage jobs that assume they are on Social Security.

2. Social Security has not contributed a penny to national debt and won't for 20 years.

3. Retirement age should be restored to 62/65 and people should be able to retire at 62 and continue to work without penalities.

4. Much easier, fairer and more sensible to increase SS taxes. Simply take the cap of $100K earnings off and apply SS to ALL income, like the Wall St robber barons who had to get $3T bailout from their victims.

5. Same applies to Medicare tax where reimbursements to MD, hospitals etc need to be doubled as they are below cost today. Again, remove $100K income limit, apply to ALL income. 90% of people will see no tax increase and 90% will see big benefit increase.

As for roads, cars etc, increase the gasoline tax which has not kept pace with inflation. $8-10 per gallon to pay for roads, mass transit, alt. fuel R&D and to pay down the $14T oil war debt also to provide tax credits for those buying high mileage cars. Higher the mpg, the bigger the tax credit.

That would smart, effective taxation.

 

^ People are living well past 63 these days (the original SS retirement age....life expectancy was 65).

If they are going to be denied work from ageism, is living longer a blessing or a curse?

As long as someone is able to do their job, they should be allowed to work.

Most of this thread has addressed what to tax, but the engine is a large base of able-bodied workers.

In our parent's generation, over 5 of them supported a retiree. It will require 2.6 of our children to support a retiree. Source: Pensions crisis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One dracionian solution was Logan's Run - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia