Federal employees have been under a pay freeze for three years. Federal retirees have continued to receive cost of living increases on their pensions and Social Security because those increases are tied to the law as are increases in Social Security for the rest of us.
Even the existence of a defined benefit pension let alone one with a COLA built-in is rare outside of government employment, so government employees have a good deal.
However, do we have our priorities backward withholding pay increases from active workers while providing them to retirees who had a lifetime of opportunity to save and accumulate assets that could or should help deal with inflation in retirement?
Who can better help stimulate the economy by spending, a population of younger people and growing families or us old duffers trying to find things to do with our free time?
Maybe we can solve this dilemma the new way.
Listen up 18 year olds; Tweet this (or maybe Facebook it since I can’t do anything with 140 characters):
In forty-seven years I will be old. I hereby acknowledge that I probably will not be working and rather living off my savings and Social Security (I hope). Therefore, I pledge to live my life accordingly and plan for this well-known future I face and avoid moaning that I am entitled to more when I do reach age 65.
This example may reference federal workers, but the concept applies throughout society. Simply put we need a better allocation of our resources between generations. We need a better system for all Americans to accumulate assets for retirement during their working lives.
If you think Obamacare is a train wreck coming at us, you ain’t seen nothing. Just wait until the next generation is the retirement generation.
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