I never really thought about it before. Usually economics makes my head hurt. And the mammoth size numbers used to describe our national budget really makes my head spin!
Maybe it's like that for you too.
But there's a simple little ratio that makes our current economic conditions clear as a bell.
42 to 1
And
3 to 1
And
2 to 1
Even the most math-panicked person in the world, like me, can see that 42 is bigger than 3 and 3 is a bigger number than 2. But what do those numbers mean?
The ratio represents the number of workers it takes to support anyone using Social Security. According to the Atlantic.com when Social Security first started, even despite the depression, it had 42 workers to support 1 retired person.
Now, given the massive job loss in our country, the exportation of jobs to slave labor overseas, the refusal of corporate legislatures to enact a tax to reimportation, the loss of tax dollars, the lowering wages, and the outrageous deficit spending in our country, it now has only three workers able to support the one retired person.
But when all the baby boomers retire and ask for their benefits, only 2 workers will be supporting each retiree.
2 to 1, folks! That's an amazing number. Especially when you consider how many baby boomers will be trying to cash in on their social security. Then add to that the rising costs of medical care, which we all know increases as you age.
Those numbers mean that if our country continues on the path that it's currently on, we will have a full-fledged crisis on our hands.
There are already suggestions that people will not have a choice of when to retire because the age when it's viable to retire will have to be increased. Ever dreamed of retiring young? Well, give it up.
Furthermore, as the toxins in our world lead to more health problems such as cancer, asthma, etc, our health care needs will increase dramatically as well. That means that the cost of supporting retirees through medicaid will increase dramatically as well.
In Franklin Delano Roosevelt's day, Social Security and Medicaid were set in place to protect the elderly from being homeless and dying in the streets. He inspired everyone to give up some of their earned money with the understanding that it would be there for them when they retired.
Things are connected here, my friends. Things like taxation, jobs, universal health care, retirement, immigration policies, and corporations running our government.
Last year, I worked for the minimum wage increase campaign. According to our own government statistics, an employee working 40 hours a week at minimum wage was earning five thousand dollars below the Federal Poverty Line! And of those workers, more than sixty percent of them were single parent families.
Think about that.
Six out of ten people were living off of $11,000 per year and supporting more than one person on that income. Those numbers do not reflect the cost of health care. They do not reflect the increase in cost of food. They do not reflect the increase in the cost of gas.
But furthermore those numbers do not reflect the growing statistic of wage earners across the country earning less money, working two-three jobs, taking pay cuts, and all those issues result in LESS TAX DOLLARS GOING INTO OUR NATIONAL BUDGET to support the upcoming health care and social security crisis.
As each job leaves, the tax dollars decrease. Jobs are leaving because businesses can't afford the rising costs of health care programs. And it continues... As food and gas prices increase, the stability of our whole economic infrastructure crumbles. We are reliant on each other. Truckers need to increase their costs. Stores increase theirs. We foot the bill. We use our credit cards more, and businesses pay more to accept the credit cards, so they charge more. As we can't afford the food, gas, and now our homes, we lose those too. It's totally circular and all of it could be stopped if the government would step up to the plate and regulate corporations, stop the price gouging, and actually penalize corporations who export jobs and re-import without any additional costs.
This whole first quarter, the markets have crashed--also risking our 401k retirement savings plans.
It seems like a crisis now. But as baby boomer retire, it's only going to get worse, folks!
The health of our nation and the health of our own family members depends upon the security and stature of the middle class. The better the middle class does, the better it is for everyone.
Let me tell you that this election is not about Hillary, Obama, or Edwards. It's about "We the People" and how we are going to work together now, to stop the hemorrhaging of jobs and to build the policies now to prevent the crisis looming ahead.