Wednesday, February 23, 2011

divide and rule

In America, we have the continual onslaught against the welfare state. The old are supposedly bankrupting the nation with Social Security and Medicare. The myth underlying these attacks is that most old people don't need entitlements - they are affluent pickpockets fleecing younger Americans. The image of prosperous elderly is not accurate. The notion of an aging population well prepared to take care of itself is a delusion.

The myth is based partly on a misconception about today's oldest Americans. The frequently repeated statistic - 75 percent of all assets are owned by people over 65 - is misleading. Those assets are held by a few, very rich hands. Nearly half of older Americans receive no income - none - from assets such as stocks and savings. Of those who do, half get less than $2,000 a year. Three-fourths of those over 65, according to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, have annual income, with Social Security, of less than $34,000. Household income plummets as people age. Most of the poor in their 80s and 90s are women, who are likely to become poorer when they are widowed.

Its always been divide and rule ...now it's the young against the old.

What's wrong is not that the old have too much - but that the young have too little.

Taken from here

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