Thursday, February 03, 2005

Now let me get this straight . . .?

I listened to our President give the State of the Union Address last evening and our Union is in quite a State! And of course, I have received countless e-mails from both sides of the political perspective. I think what I have found to be absolutely fascinating is the number of "forward to your friends" e-mails regarding the Congressional retirement plan and Social Security. And the majority of the senders were over 55, in the 'guaranteed protected' age group. I attempted to do a little research on the subject, and found a pretty interestingly detailed explanation of how this 'social insurance,' and 'government dole' was promoted and accepted into American mainstream. Entitlement for the elderly and infirm, regardless of need, became the guarantee of every working American. Ah, but there are now so many entitlements for the not so elderly and only conveniently infirm, how do we ever sort all this out? As I read it, and it is extensive, I felt to preserve accuracy I would simply post the link, which I have at the end of this blog.
As I listened last night to the arbitrary line that was drawn, I just shrugged my shoulders in resignation. Social Security and medicare, fixed or not, solvent or not, is not where I dare put my faith, and I was blessed to know that ten years ago. I am so grateful that the G~d I serve has a better health plan than medicare or medicaid. Realizing that job security and pension plans began to be eliminated in the 80's, and unions destroyed, we had to know this day was coming. We are simply going to pay the price and walk out the plan that was put in place long before we were born.
There is only going to be one group of Americans that will receive full Social Security, pensions, stock dividends, retirement plans and the proceeds from "selling the farm" to suburbian expansion, and they are enjoying it right now. And I do not begrudge them their windfall. I just hope that they realize they are the end of the line. I pray they will be willing to share their fortunes with the children of the boomers born in the 50's, as those boomers will have nothing left to leave the next generations. And as a 50's boomer, I'm truly sorry kids and grandkids. The way we were taught, is no longer feasible. And since we obviously have a very unstable financial future, it's a fair conclusion that we haven't prepare you.
Always when there is a problem in our country, there is one factor that remains stable. When there is absolutely no reasoning an issue out amongst the generations or along political party lines, the ones with the most money and power; win!
I looked in Scripture to see G~d's instructions for dealing justly with the poor and proper care of the elderly, laws of inheritance, and retirement. There are specific instructions regarding widows, orphans and the poor. And G~d says the sons get the farms. Now all of that is instruction to a G~dly nation. You know, I can't find a thing about G~d's instruction regarding retirement. I wonder . . . did He fail to figure in retirement, or did retirement fail to figure into His plan?

http://www.francesperkins.org/fdr.html

visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, to the third and to the fourth generation.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You don't have to be sorry!

Now I know why you asked if I had let the cat out of the bag. They'd have LOVED this one.

As for retirement, looks like my generation simply won't be. We'll just work until we're too old, and then wander the streets, suffering from dimentia. Or, you know, MAYBE our kids will take us in. I'd take my parents in if they needed me to. Really. Of course, I can't imagine that they would like to live with me, as I would lock them in the attic and feed them crunchy peanut butter.

Sorry. Just trying to lighten up such a grave truth. Looking forward to the next post!

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