Senior segment of population

There are a number of interesting economic items concerning seniors at
this FDIC site. The one that caught my eye is a chart that shows
that in 1900 people over 65 made up about 4% of the population. In
2000 it appears to have been close to 14%. And in 20 more years it
will be close to 20%.

El Castor...

Do you wonder why Social Security is in trouble, and will be in much
bigger trouble in 20 years?

"It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of what he was never reasoned into."
Jonathan Swift

Florida...

Well, good! Then maybe in 20 years, with a good big cadre of old
people, there'll be enough vigorous thoughful seniors to keep those
harebrained youngsters in Congress from toddling into gratuitous,
budget-destroying wars.

Fred Ghadry...

Last year, the government spent more on Medicare than it did on defense.
One estimate is that by 2020 Medicare spending and other senior support
programs will consume the biggest part of the federal budget.

Who's going to pay the taxes to support that big cadre of old people?

Thumper...

You don't think old people pay taxes?

Jean Smith...

We've paid taxes through our working lives to fund Medicare.

Fred Ghadry...

Surprise! The money's all gone. Who's going to pay the taxes to support
that big cadre of old people?

Justine...

Wow, what a disconnect! I wonder what percentage of seniors Jean
represents who live by this myth that their money is in a bank
somewhere!
Justine

Gary James...

I don't know, but I do know there are a lot of people who collect
Medicare and SS benefits who are not 62 or over. Maybe we should
wean them off the system before we complain about the seniors.

Fred Ghadry...

Good idea! There's no reason the government should support those
poverty-stricken disabled folks any more (they're probably faking
anyway). Once they're gone there'll be plenty of money for the seniors.

Gary James...

It's something I noticed two years ago when I went to file for my SS.
Our local SS Offices have a large waiting room which will seat between
50 and 80 people. The morning I was there, there were about 35 of us
waiting to see one of about 6 interviewers. What immediately struck
me was the fact that out of all of those people, only two of us (me
and another guy) were over 45. That's a shock on your first visit
to the SS. I had expected a lot of gray hair.

Please consider this. Here is a GA county that I'm a little familiar
with. It's a rural county much like hundreds of others in the USA.

In 2000 it had a population of 94,882 people. 11.8% (1,120) were over
65 and eligible for Medicare. But look further and you'll see that
20,642 people above the age of 5 is disabled. That's 22%. Some of
those may be over 65, but not nearly all. How many of these disabled
people are on disability, and therefore on SS and Medicare ? I
can't tell by these figures, but I'd like to know. And for
everyone that is a father, that means his children are also eligible
for government assistance, which in this case could be Medicare.

In this one county, we see a *potential* of up to almost 35-40%
(counting children of disabled) of the citizens getting Social
Security.

I don't begrudge any disabled person getting help. But I do object to
them draining Social security and Medicare and blaming it on the
seniors. We need to point this out to our elected officials.