Members of Generation X have almost no retirement savings whatsoever. They don’t have defined benefit retirement packages. 401(k) savings programs are a joke. If they’re counting on Social Security, forget it. Political pressure to get rid of the program will certainly screw them before they get to collect it. And anyway, Social Security itself claims that it will be bankrupt in less than 20 years.
Generation X Retirement Options
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
6 Comments. Leave new
But Ted, if Social Security will be bankrupt in 20 years (as if it were Providence, not policy that determined that), the so-called Millenials won’t be any better off at retirement than younger members of Generation X (good to see that you are among the «old» Generation Xers). Or are you suggesting that all Millenials will be independently wealthy by the time they reach retirement age ?…
Once again, inter-generational conflict is not the solution to the problems confronting Generation X – or, for that matter, any other generation….
Henri
Agreed. Organize, don’t go that divide and conquer route the elite want us to go down. (see article from Dollars & Sense link below)
I have to challenge Ted on this one. In no small part because of my absolute bowel-loosening terror at the thought of social security (my only funds for retirement) disappearing.
Surely social security can be funded successfully by minor corrective measures.
For instance, the tax-avoidance loophole that is “charitable art donations.” Why is Banksy worth so much? Because billionaires have jacked up the price of his “art.” Ditto with Basquiat (and no one in our enlightened diverse times will ever publicly opine that Basquiat’s stuff is simply not that good). They bid these insane amounts because they then turn around and hand them to public museums (which will provide the security and the stable environment to store the works) and receive a huge tax write-off for it.
Then there’s the whole stock market. You want to stabilize the stock market? Piece of cake. A 10% fee for selling any stock within three years. Sorry daytraders. Looks like you’re gonna have to find real jobs.
There’s lots more ways. But I know that whoever votes out social security is going to spend the remainder of their very short life waiting for the bullet to hit the back of their head because a whole lot of people are finally going to break at that point. And they’ll go after senators, representatives, their families, their dogs, their neighbors’ dogs, their neighbors’ friends’ dogs. … (Basically, watch out if you’re a dog, ’cause it’s going to be bad.)
we can keep Social Security solvent:
http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2019/0919miller.html
Also, a big part of the uprising in Chile is their awful privatized retirement system thanks to Milton Friedman, which Yass and Moore would love to impose here.
Actually, when the trust fund goes to zero, if no changes are made then benefits will be paid in line with collections. In that case, benefits will be about 75% to 80% of current projected benefits. Those projected benefits are about 25% higher than today’s benefits when adjusted for inflation. Realistically, I expect that most politicians would be too scared to allow a drop like that to happen. It’s not just the people 67 and older (or 62 and older) who would be up in arms but also their kids.