According to John Tierney's column in today's NY Times
The Old and the Rested, America's Social Security system promotes
"greed and sloth" on the part of older Americans.
After all,
"Americans now feel entitled to spend nearly a third of their adult lives in retirement. Their jobs are less physically demanding than their parents' were, but they're retiring younger and typically start collecting Social Security by age 62. Most could keep working - fewer than 10 percent of people 65 to 75 are in poor health - but, like Bartleby the Scrivener, they prefer not to."
Tierney reveals his own bizarre class bias when he asks:
"Is it possible that people this age are still physically capable of putting in a full day's work at the office?"
Yes, it weren't for all those lazy and self-indulgent old folks,
"there would be lower taxes on everyone and fewer struggling young families."
Tierney's solution? He suggests we adopt a pension system like Chile's. Haven't we hear this all before?
And he ducks the problem of age discrimination by employers--old people who need money can simply start their own businesses! He uses as an example a Chilean schoolteacher Maria, who plans to start an ecotourism or tutoring business when she retires. Poor Maria. She's going to be in for quite a shock when she finds out how low older women are on the economic totem pole in today's "free" markets.