It is my opinion that the fix for Social Security includes lowering the age at which you can receive it.
I’m insane you think?
Personal experience has helped to form my opinion.
A very close relative, age 56, was unemployed for two years. He is now just severely underemployed–a job in which he makes less than one-quarter of his former salary, with no benefits.
My neighbor, who is just over 50, was laid off in August with no job possibilities on the horizon.
My sister-in-law, age 53, was recently informed that her job is being privatized in October. The probability of her latching on with the new company: slim-to-none.
I could relate dozens of these stories, just in my small circle of friends and family.
It seems to me that big business is redefining the American dream. It now reads: “Work hard and do well–until you are 50, when you are thrown out like yesterday’s trash.”
Therefore we need Social Security, our insurance, at an earlier age.
An alternative: Maybe the people at the top could make a few dollars less, so that they could pay the rest of their employees a living wage. Maybe they could respect the knowledge and experience of the over-50 workers and keep them, instead of laying them off.
Believing this alternative will ever happen: That’s insane!
