Bye Bye American Dream

[Walter Hart <tracy.hart@cwix.com>]

The questions I pose are these: (1) What does Social Security have
to do with America's economic decline since 1973? (2) How can Social
Security be reformed so that opportunity for economic and social
advancement is once again shared by all?

Comparing 1997 with 1973, United States Census Bureau figures on
Household Median Incomes by age groups demonstrate progressively
lower real incomes for each age group under the age of 45:

Age Group   1973      1997  ($/% Decrease) $/% Increase 
  15-24   $25,490   $22,583      (-$2,907)/(-11.40%) 
  25-34   $40,241   $38,174      (-$2,067)/(-5.14%) 
  35-44   $47,480   $46,359      (-$1,121)/(-2.36%) 
  45-54   $47,881   $51,875      +$3,994/+8.34% 
  55-64   $36,986   $41,356      +$4,370/+11.82% 
over 65   $15,584   $20,761      +$5,177/+33.22%

See the Census Bureau table on this see Census Bureau Data on
Household Income by Age Group at
http://www.census.gov/hhes/income/histinc/h10.html

These Census Bureau figures show that only households of those over
45 years old are doing better now than the same age groups were in
1973. But, I think a key point is the fact that things are
progressively worse for younger age groups.

The pain of America's economic decline has not been spread evenly
across all age groups. Those who are currently in politically and
economically powerful age groups don't even acknowledge any economic
decline. Per capita numbers or averages that include all age groups
fail to show the true picture of what has been happening.

In his book , "Will America Grow Up Before It Grows Old," p. 55-56
(Random House 1996), Peter G. Peterson noted that:  "Until recently,
it was reasonable to assume that children would do better than
their parents - and indeed, throughout most of our history until
the 1970s, U.S. living standards roughly doubled every generation,
not just for the rich but for everyone. At our post-1973 rate of
productivity growth, however, living standards will take 175 years
to double." Id. at p. 67.

Spreading the pain of Social Security reform entirely to younger
generations is only going to fuel the fires of future poverty and
pain for these people when they become the retired generation. The
current retired generation is relatively more affluent, and should
therefore bear more of the pain of any reform of Social Security.
Let's not talk so much about raising the age of retirement for
current workers; lets talk about cutting current benefits to the
elderly who are affluent so that we can allow the poorer younger
generations to begin to provide for their own retirements themselves.

Walter