There's a great piece at the Calpensions blog here demonstrating every which way from Sunday how municipal and state pensions and other retirees benefits are underfunded. A proposed initiative in California would require local governments to lay out a plan to get funded in 15 years although there's no requirement that the localities actually implement the plan. It's principal purpose seems to be to get folks to realize how dire matters really are. And "what matters are" is simple: old folks are ripping off younger ones. In other words, unfunded and thus effectively pay-as-you-go plans take from the young to pay benefits to their elders. It's been that way from the start but the combination of increasing benefits, a declining birth rate, and a poor economy are making matters worse. Much worse.
But there may be more direct action coming to your local university campus. Turns out that several hedge fund billionaires have "been touring college campuses to urge students to mobilize against what one of the writers called 'generational theft.'”
Me? A thief? Well, not yet anyway. I have some years to go before I start collecting Social Security benefits for which my years of contributions have already been exhausted for my parents' generation.
But aren't we forgetting something? Don't children actually have an obligation to support their parent? "Honor your father and you mother," anyone?
There certainly are inter-generational obligations that go both ways. Parents owe financial, emotional, and social support to their children and children to their aging parents. The commodification and abstraction of pensions, however, has severed the link between particular children and their parents and made both halves of the relationship more individualistic and, well, selfish. But in order of blame it's we elders who must bear the greater share. Older generations have for years and still are scooping more than they need from the upcoming generations. And it's only a matter of time before the kids wake up.
But there may be more direct action coming to your local university campus. Turns out that several hedge fund billionaires have "been touring college campuses to urge students to mobilize against what one of the writers called 'generational theft.'”
Me? A thief? Well, not yet anyway. I have some years to go before I start collecting Social Security benefits for which my years of contributions have already been exhausted for my parents' generation.
But aren't we forgetting something? Don't children actually have an obligation to support their parent? "Honor your father and you mother," anyone?
There certainly are inter-generational obligations that go both ways. Parents owe financial, emotional, and social support to their children and children to their aging parents. The commodification and abstraction of pensions, however, has severed the link between particular children and their parents and made both halves of the relationship more individualistic and, well, selfish. But in order of blame it's we elders who must bear the greater share. Older generations have for years and still are scooping more than they need from the upcoming generations. And it's only a matter of time before the kids wake up.
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