With the passing Sen. Robert Byrd much has been made of his longevity in office. In fact it raises a debate among some as to how old is too old to do a competent job in congress. There are more than ten 80 plus years old members of congress or the senate. These older legislatures agree on at least one thing they are doing the best work of their careers now. The seniority that comes with age gives them an advantage when it comes to committee chairs and the allocation of funds.
So is it any wonder that they want to raise the age for full S.S. benefits to 70 or maybe older. Some of the reasoning for raising the retirement age makes sense. When S.S. was started the average person didn't spend 30 years in retirement more like 5-10 years. This disparity is one of the elements dragging the fund to bankruptcy.
So maybe it is time to raise the age of retirement. The right age is the question some jobs football player mid 30's is the right age, where for a librarian maybe 75-80 is the right age. Maybe what we need is a floating scale where 65 remains the retirement age for some jobs and for other jobs it rises. Some jobs it just doesn't make sense to raise the age of retirement, after all do you want an 70 year old fireman trying to rescue you from a fire. Some jobs physically prevent a worker from doing a good or safe job after a certain age.
If we are going to adjust retirement ages or benefits let's do it wisely
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Ever heard of Ida Mae Fuller? She was the original canary in the mineshaft of the eventual insolvency of SS. She was the first person to collect SS benefits. She retired in 1940 after having contributed $44 to the system. She lived until 1975.
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There are other concerns that just which occupation. People age (and die) at different rates due to genetics, environment, etc.
Oops, last paragraph should read "than" rather than "that."
ReplyDeleteBill,there are always examples like Ida Mae on average though people are just living longer. I realize there other concerns than just which occupation but now the only concideration is age.
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