Bernie is amazing! So thankful he’s still SO involved!
Use this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to your own reps, as well as those in other states on a specific committee important to a topic you’re sharing. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
If the Dem Party was more imaginative and youthful, more thoughtful, and less fearful of Trump in the 2016 campaign, Bernie would have just finished up his second Whitehouse term last January, and the country would be in terrific shape. Bernie is still hotter than Biden or Trump could ever be, and "Looks and Brains" Harris, or Elizabeth Warren could be in the Oval Office now.
I love the Bern, but have never thought the nation was smart enough to elect him, b/c he runs under a term, "socialist dem" that scares people, tho we are a combo of democratic and socialist programs, thank god.
Maybe you could partner with inequality media and they could post a version on this on their media sites. Seems like a great tool that anyone can use to get more engaged in politics.
I’ve been sharing it for almost 3 months now, hoping for something bigger to happen other than me sharing it all over (maybe annoyingly 😅). So far no luck. I do think ultimately there’s a reason why the information isn’t easily all in one place on a government site, but I think it needs to be. I am waiting to see if any links expire because staffers change them so they’re not as easily accessible 🤪
It would be easy enough to put this up online with a decent format and functionality, but the biggest challenge is reach. That's where a group like Inequality Media could really take it to the next level. Robert Reich always talks about getting more engaged, and this seems like a fantastic tool to help people do so. It would be great if the Federal government would offer this, but it won't happen as long as disenfranchisement is a dominant strategy in politics (much more on the side of Republicans, but not quite absent on the Democrat side).
There’s an organization working to put it into a website/app! They’ve updated all the Senator pieces, but I didn’t have the Committees listed when they started making it. Here’s the link to what they’re working on
I don’t have Excel since I believe it has to be paid for nowadays? I haven’t tried since I don’t have the program but can you download it as an Excel document? I have PDF documents of it if that’d work for you. My email is listed on the spreadsheet, just email me if you need them :)
I like the idea of this spreadsheet. Thank you for putting your time and knowledge into making it. It is wonderful that you’ve managed to find someone who is interested in developing it as an app. This seems to me to be what we need. Thank you!
As to comments I see here about the Democratic Party not coming through for Bernie Sanders, I’m an aging hippie of sorts. { I think this is the box that people would put me in). I’m not a politician or a techie, but I do read the news, and form opinions on what I see. As I remember it in 2016 Bernie Sanders had a lot going for him and I felt he would make an excellent president if he could manage to be elected. At that time he was an independent who caucused with Democrats When he announced that he was running as a candidate for the presidency in the Democratic primaries, I was glad - glad and confused. He wasn’t a Democrat, yet he was running in the Democratic primaries . In my state, (New York) one needed to be a member of the party to even vote in the primary, given that, how could he be the party’s candidate? He could have joined the party but didn’t. Like I said, I’m not a politician and I know that there are many things I don’t know but it seems that if he was unwilling or morally unable to become a Democrat, why would anyone expect the party to back him? I did contribute both money and my time to his campaign and I’m sure he and party leaders must have tried to come to an equitable solution, but far as I know, they didn’t work it out. I think life would have been so much better if they had, but I don’t think they robbed him or anything like that.
I do think that this is something that MAGA people and others who want to sow division on the Left have been able to use for their purposes. In these days ot tribal politics we can’t afford to focus on these things. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! We can’t refight the arguments of 2016 while Democracy dies. I don’t know how to put this all aside and I’m hoping there are people who do know. I believe that Bernie and AOC and others have very important messages for us and I’d follow where they lead into the future.
Thanks for reminding us that Bernie's Independent status in fact, could render him unavailable to be the DNC choice --even if other issues weren't in play (which they were!)
It seems as though trump wants to kill off our seniors. Makes sense in that we cost the system a lot of money and culturally we are dispensable. Clear as day to me. Seniors have little political power as a whole. Kind of reminds me of eugenics. Bullies always pick weak people to subjugate.
Losing a lot of older people at once would present a lot of problems for our society. They do a lot of caretaking. They are teachers and mentors. Many people do their best work in their last 20 years when they finally have time.
There are people who will not admit when it is time to go out to pasture. Don’t lump us all together.
Covid was so effective at emptying the Nursing Homes and killing the elderly, that our country’s life expectancy went down. That may explain why they stopped counting COVID deaths and are cutting off immunizations for the general population. If they can kill enough of us old people they can destroy Medicare and Social Security.
I am glad to hear that. I have become progressively more liberal as the decades passed. The more education and experience I acquired the more I realized how things work. My family are Trumpsters. They seem more quiet about it now.
Stephen.....Yeah he does pick on the weak and vulnerable, but there are a lot of us old cookies still out there ready to fight. At these protests that I have been to are mostly seniors and we are mad as hell what he is doing to this country and our democracy is shameful!!! Keep fighting and go to every protest you find. The next one is June 14th NO KINGS!!!
Right… the country spends a couple trillion a year on seniors… almost entirely funded by far younger workers… yet the richest generation in history is perpetually the victim?
“They” kept my son out of school for almost 2 years to protect the silver fox set from a virus that largely effected the old and unhealthy and posed minimal risk to healthy children…
…5 years later we’re still fighting to get him caught up.
Best hopes for spending public resources on programs most likely to provide a positive return to society.
Gee Kurt, Social Security has been paying out benefits for 85 years. I've been paying into it since 16, in the service at 17 and a long career since. Reagan fixed it in the 80's and we had four FICA increases since. That built up a trust that will run out in 2035 and it will need to be fixed again prior to this. When I worked my contributions paid for the then retired. Some day you will be collecting a benefit as well. As long as we have payroll deduction and FICA there will be Social Security benefits. Better that than turning old people into Soylent Green. Remember; Soylent Green is people. LOL
All we have to do to save Social Security is to raise the cap, currently $176,100.
That means a person who earns $200,000 pays in the same amount as a person who earns $176,100. A person who earns $1,000,000 pays in the same amount as a person who earns $176,100. A person who earns $100,000,000 pays in the same amount as a person who earns $176,100. And so on.
Raise the cap to $1,000,000 or better still infinity & the system will be solvent forever.
Some people have suggested a different cap. If you earn some large amount, say $1,000,000 per year, you cannot collect Social Security.
Very familiar with the concept. The complaint there will be that the raising of the cap will not net a higher benefit to those that pay more into the system. The reason Congress has put off a fix for so long is that no ideas are going to be without pain to someone. Be that raising the retirement age, lifting the cap, means testing the program, reducing the benefit paid out, etc. For people that worked with their brain a longer retirement makes sense. I was a healthcare CEO and could have worked past my 66.6 full retirement age. A roofer on a roof at the age of 70, to get their full-time benefit does not seem very realistic. Taking a benefit at a younger age permanently reduces the benefit amount and isn't fair to hard laborers either.
You do realize that approximately 1,000 “healthy” children died from COVID. A couple I know in their 40’s got it shortly before the shots became available. She was an aerobic instructor and he was a cop, neither will ever work again. Remember very little was actually known about COVID and it was all a learning curve.
Thank you! It was a crummy unsettling time! I truly believe that had we had an actual leader in this country, it wouldn't have been quite so bad & people would have been more unified in limiting the damage caused by COVID! Instead of tackling the pandemic head-on & joining forces with scientists, governors, the medical establishment & other leaders, Trump lied, spread disinformation & used it as a political tool to divide the country further! It was definitely a learning curve for everyone & it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback! But Trump's lies & the conspiracy theory antivax crowd made it worse & caused deaths! He caused scientists & medical workers to be vilified! I really hoped when he got it that he wouldn't survive!
I really believe that trump is afraid of facts, of reality(not reality TV shows). He has traded his whole life in lives and misinformation. I understand this because I was married to a man with a similar mindset as were a couple of other women I know. Find the book The Sociopath Next Door.
There are many out there. I was lucky. Friends are the key, do not let him/her cut you off from them. There are a lot who are not as fortunate. Remember women can be just as dangerous.
Kathleen - I know my state found it necessary to hide statistics about child mortality for the 1st 6 months of school closure, (because no school age child had died yet), parents could not know that schools were being kept closed only to reduce risk for teachers, or the next narrative, compromised adults living in the homes of the children needed to be protected by forced social distancing of school children.
The CDC data is still out there for anyone who wishes to look. You are correct that In a nation of 340 million there were thousands of child deaths.
Statistics need to be understood in context, Google tells me there were approximately 3,000 accidental drownings in the US last year. We advocate for swim lessons, for lifeguards, and free CPR training… we don’t tell kids they shouldn’t swim.
My original comment, made in response to the assertion that older Americans might somehow get “screwed by the system”, was that I can list a dozen mega-scale examples of how exactly the opposite occurs openly, in the light of day.
Over the last 20 years our government has massively shifted its spending of public resources from people below age 62 to people above 62. To disagree with this is to debate the force of gravity. The cause is part demographics, sure… but that shift needs to be reversed… or at a minimum stabilized.
My Covid school closure example was meant to illustrate the extreme system bias of the protection of well organized vocal entrenched interests at the expense of the young and working age population.
I have grandchildren in several states, each took a different track, some dependent on climate. One had classes outside. Another was schooled on computer. And still another went to school but if someone in the class was exposed then the children around them were sent home for 10days to one week, this was very disruptive. Of the 8 kids. One had a case of long COVID. All the parents found they became more involved with their children’s education.
As our society changes, so should our Congress. Term limits are a great idea to limit us old folk from hanging on for whatever. Probably dollars.no one in their 80’s should be in government. In fact, no one in their 70’s should be in government. Us old folk are great people with a lot of experience But our capability to change is not a force. Few of US understand LGBTQ+ and don’t comprehend that the stream of consciousness there has already streamed and no matter what we do we can’t stop it and that’s a good thing but this Congress will ever admit it. Term limits for SCOTUS too. Form a free and fair America and be transparent about dementia and PPND as a mental illness (that’s Trump). Finally, if we want any decent representation we must end Citizens United and Corporate dollars as voter persuasion. Buy a Vote should always be illegal in America. Decent Old Folk realize this. At least many of US do.
I'm 75 and I'm tired of all these old farts running everything. They don't want to rock the boat even though Trump is busy sinking it. Let them all walk the plank at midterms so we can seat some young people with enough guts and energy to save the ship.
I agree that some "old farts" in government should make way for new blood! But there are some older excellent leaders whose knowledge & experience is invaluable! It really depends on the individual! The "tea party" brought some younger blood to Congress & they turned out to be useless, ignorant obstructionists who have contributed nothing to government except chaos i.e. Gym Jordan! MTG & Bobo brought younger blood too! That has worked out well! But I do have hope when I see some of the promising young democrats speaking out such as Brendan Boyle (Pa) and Maxwell Frost (FL) and others!
Yes - youth is wasted on the young ( hahaha) I certainly like talking to people that are up to date on the latest breaking news and current events - I learn something new almost everyday and I’m 72.
I watched the first minutes on Vs Substack and I was put off by the ongoing (media wide) theme of dismissing people’s skills and abilities based on their age. The actual point is reasonable, I guess, but the free pass to disparage the contribution of people once they hit a certain age is a slippery slope. Imho
Correct!!! I earned my BA when I was 34 and a working single mother. My family couldn't send me to college after high school, so I did it once universities started accepting "older students." (They weren't sure we could keep up. Please!) Then I worked in Silicon Valley and earned my MS when I was 66. I wanted to get it before I collected Social Security. Today in my retirement, I'm a substitute teacher, a political organizer, a newspaper columnist, a non-profit volunteer, a church volunteer, a news junkie, a photographer, a parent, and a grandparent... and I do all my own housework and yard work. Oh... I'm 80 years old, and I can beat anyone with my cane... if I used a cane. Age alone does not determine capability or mental capacity. Bernie is my role model... as is my mother, who passed away only four years ago.
Congratulations! I also went back later. My eldest son was medically fragile and my life work was caring for him. When he passed I was lost and heartbroken. Eventually I decided to finish my BA, so I got it done at age 48.
Retiring at a decent age isnt JUST about giving your students your best, it is also about letting the next generation get some time in as a leader. Gen X has had a difficult time with upward career mobility because the forever young (in their minds) Boomers wouldnt freaking retire!!! Move over! Be a mentor but pass the torch for goodness sake! I read an article in The Guardian yesterday about an upper management NPS scientist at 69 years old grousing because he is taking “early” retirement. He said he had hoped to stay for 5 more years!!! Move the hell over! A Gen Xer should have been prepped tontake his job 4-5 years ago!! At least!
Many Boomers CAN’T AFFORD to retire. And Boomers paid into the fund all their working lives just like younger people are. I’m really sick of all this hate aimed at Boomers. We didn’t complain about supporting our parents and grandparents by paying into SS.
I would have loved to retire 15 years ago (I’m almost 80) and have just left the workforce due to failing eyesight. As a single mother who put my kid through training so he’d support his family well and caring for elderly family with few resources, the employers that I did time with (and in most cases it was “doing time”) cancelled retirement plans for middle employees. They kept hefty pension plans for the folks at the top of the food chain tho. I now take care of grands when needed while living on social security and a small amount of savings. Tired of being told that I should pass away or stay invisible!!
Tina, you are right. I was upper mgmt as a biologist with a federal agency and a career I loved til the day I retired at 67. I kept telling myself at 62 "I ought to retire and give someone younger the opportunity to move up" - but I loved my job. I could still be doing it today, loving it; I retired 3 years ago. But, you are correct: rise, lead, mentor and move on out the door.
Gen X has always been overlooked but honestly it is too late for most of us to really flourish if we haven’t already. For the betterment of society at large, Gen X needs to support AOC and the youth she leads.
I support AOC and as a Californian I still donate to her even though she isnt a direct representative of mine, because I believe in her overall values. Hell yeah I am for a Green New Deal. That said I disagree about the Gen Xer no longer able to flourish. Maybe Xers cant flourish with long term pensions but there sure as hell better be a plan for truly affordable senior housing for us. We as a generation took it on chin with the long failing arc of Reagan’s mythological trickledown economics. And for Boomers tired of hearing disparaging remarks, too bad, it was overall a selfish generation when it had the greater means and opportunity to steer things better. And you failed.
I saw this a lot in a former employer that had pretty entrenched Boomer management (some of it was a lot had pensions and were waiting for them to vest). Problem was, the pipeline of younger talent started to leave because they didn’t have pensions and realized they were going to have to wait for someone to retire to get promoted.
One example is what happened at the Coal Board in Newcastle England. In the early 20th century former we are selected from the new generation. There was discomfort among succeeding generations, as there was no chance for advancement. That coincided with the decline of the coal pits from 125,000 employees to 25,000 employees by 1983. I am not sure what the employment is now, if any.
Your point, and that of money, others, his one side of a double sided sword. While upward mobility is essential more senior people often have superior abilities for the job at hand, wisdom and institutional knowledge that helps them produce a much more beneficial outcome.
Jimmy Carter - 'retired' but contributed immensely to the world during his 'retirement'. His impressiveness to me grew with every year he added to his age.
Those clamoring for term limits have probably never lived under them. We don't have Representatives nor Senators running our state. We have lobbyists. Anytime a person figures out where the bathrooms are, and how to get things accomplished, they are gone and we have a new batch of dolts entering Congress. I'll take experience over ignorance any day of the week.
Do you think that Bernie Sanders and Robert Reich are the only seniors who can pass the Gen (fill in the blank) litmus test of acceptable thought? Do you think there should be retirement police? You sound like JD Vance, old women are only good for babysitting. What about experience? What about successful outcomes for your students? Shouldn't the benchmark for who is relevant be how well you do your job? My brother retired at 85 from his medical practice and his patients begged him to stay because his knowledge (acquired over many years) saved their lives. We are not a monolithic group. This is vile.
At that point he should be mentoring young doctors and spreading his knowledge and wisdom around. I’m in my 80’s and believe that we must pass leadership to young people. I don’t know if they will f**k up more than we did. I do believe in institutional knowledge and that mentoring is important. Oh, and as far as old women babysitting, most I know are too busy volunteering except for an occasional helping out. I also prefer to thinking of the “babysitting” as mentoring. You know, things like manners( no cell phones or hats at the table), being considerate and thoughtful and understanding common curtesies.
Hooray for encore careers! I left my ‘career’ at a multinational law firm at 65 to teach evolved parenting and lead outdoor early childhood education classes for parents and kids. I’m poorer - but I’m happier, healthier, more fulfilled and feel my work matters more than ever. We need wisdom and statesmanship more than ever.
I left university teaching (arts and humanities) at 63, took an administrative job for a few years, and then started law school at age 72. I'll receive my JD at 74, and hope to pass the bar before I'm 75. Then I'm planning to write appellate briefs, or contribute in some other way to corrective justice.
There are 3 groups backing trump, The Heritage Foundation, and two others I had never heard of and can’t remember. They are writing the EOs and telling trump what to do. Trump wasn’t elected they were.
Ageism is as ugly and unfair as all the other “isms”. AOC doesn’t go around trying to kick everyone over 65 out of politics, she just works hard and speaks out about making the world better for people. She’s been touring with Bernie Sanders, for gawds sake, and he’s no spring chicken. So much of the younger generation just want everything handed to them without doing the work, without educating themselves. Experience matters.
Bernie is amazing! So thankful he’s still SO involved!
Use this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to your own reps, as well as those in other states on a specific committee important to a topic you’re sharing. Use your voice and make some “good trouble.”
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit?usp=drivesdk
If the Dem Party was more imaginative and youthful, more thoughtful, and less fearful of Trump in the 2016 campaign, Bernie would have just finished up his second Whitehouse term last January, and the country would be in terrific shape. Bernie is still hotter than Biden or Trump could ever be, and "Looks and Brains" Harris, or Elizabeth Warren could be in the Oval Office now.
If only. What the Democratic Party did to Bernie was absolutely terrible. They lost a lot of my trust and support the way they treated him
Twice.
Ugh. True. I hope there’s an alternate universe somewhere where he was president. The people would be so much better off!
The whole world will be better off.
I love the Bern, but have never thought the nation was smart enough to elect him, b/c he runs under a term, "socialist dem" that scares people, tho we are a combo of democratic and socialist programs, thank god.
This is an amazing tool, did you put it together? Either way, thank you!
I did! I’m still adding to it, but Senate, House and most of what I could find for Trump’s Cabinet is done. Next up, news organizations!
Maybe you could partner with inequality media and they could post a version on this on their media sites. Seems like a great tool that anyone can use to get more engaged in politics.
I’ve been sharing it for almost 3 months now, hoping for something bigger to happen other than me sharing it all over (maybe annoyingly 😅). So far no luck. I do think ultimately there’s a reason why the information isn’t easily all in one place on a government site, but I think it needs to be. I am waiting to see if any links expire because staffers change them so they’re not as easily accessible 🤪
It would be easy enough to put this up online with a decent format and functionality, but the biggest challenge is reach. That's where a group like Inequality Media could really take it to the next level. Robert Reich always talks about getting more engaged, and this seems like a fantastic tool to help people do so. It would be great if the Federal government would offer this, but it won't happen as long as disenfranchisement is a dominant strategy in politics (much more on the side of Republicans, but not quite absent on the Democrat side).
There’s an organization working to put it into a website/app! They’ve updated all the Senator pieces, but I didn’t have the Committees listed when they started making it. Here’s the link to what they’re working on
https://callyourrep.glide.page/dl/6471c6
This is great but could you put it in Excel?
I don’t have Excel since I believe it has to be paid for nowadays? I haven’t tried since I don’t have the program but can you download it as an Excel document? I have PDF documents of it if that’d work for you. My email is listed on the spreadsheet, just email me if you need them :)
I like the idea of this spreadsheet. Thank you for putting your time and knowledge into making it. It is wonderful that you’ve managed to find someone who is interested in developing it as an app. This seems to me to be what we need. Thank you!
As to comments I see here about the Democratic Party not coming through for Bernie Sanders, I’m an aging hippie of sorts. { I think this is the box that people would put me in). I’m not a politician or a techie, but I do read the news, and form opinions on what I see. As I remember it in 2016 Bernie Sanders had a lot going for him and I felt he would make an excellent president if he could manage to be elected. At that time he was an independent who caucused with Democrats When he announced that he was running as a candidate for the presidency in the Democratic primaries, I was glad - glad and confused. He wasn’t a Democrat, yet he was running in the Democratic primaries . In my state, (New York) one needed to be a member of the party to even vote in the primary, given that, how could he be the party’s candidate? He could have joined the party but didn’t. Like I said, I’m not a politician and I know that there are many things I don’t know but it seems that if he was unwilling or morally unable to become a Democrat, why would anyone expect the party to back him? I did contribute both money and my time to his campaign and I’m sure he and party leaders must have tried to come to an equitable solution, but far as I know, they didn’t work it out. I think life would have been so much better if they had, but I don’t think they robbed him or anything like that.
I do think that this is something that MAGA people and others who want to sow division on the Left have been able to use for their purposes. In these days ot tribal politics we can’t afford to focus on these things. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY! We can’t refight the arguments of 2016 while Democracy dies. I don’t know how to put this all aside and I’m hoping there are people who do know. I believe that Bernie and AOC and others have very important messages for us and I’d follow where they lead into the future.
Thanks for reminding us that Bernie's Independent status in fact, could render him unavailable to be the DNC choice --even if other issues weren't in play (which they were!)
WOW Megan that is an awesome spreadsheet! Thank you!
Thank you! I’m proud of it! And hope it helps others find it easier to speak up!
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
You’re welcome! Thanks for speaking up right now!
It seems as though trump wants to kill off our seniors. Makes sense in that we cost the system a lot of money and culturally we are dispensable. Clear as day to me. Seniors have little political power as a whole. Kind of reminds me of eugenics. Bullies always pick weak people to subjugate.
Except we vote in record numbers and we will bury them if they come after Social Security.
Losing a lot of older people at once would present a lot of problems for our society. They do a lot of caretaking. They are teachers and mentors. Many people do their best work in their last 20 years when they finally have time.
There are people who will not admit when it is time to go out to pasture. Don’t lump us all together.
Many of the “retirees” I know do a great deal of volunteer work. Consider how much that would cost even at minimum wage.
Covid was so effective at emptying the Nursing Homes and killing the elderly, that our country’s life expectancy went down. That may explain why they stopped counting COVID deaths and are cutting off immunizations for the general population. If they can kill enough of us old people they can destroy Medicare and Social Security.
I think that seniors have a lot of power. Think of the AARP and the cry that will arise if Trump tries to diminish Social Security.
I am glad to hear that. I have become progressively more liberal as the decades passed. The more education and experience I acquired the more I realized how things work. My family are Trumpsters. They seem more quiet about it now.
I think a lot of old folks voted for the current regime. But they aren’t on here.
No old person in my family did.
I bet they didn’t …! It’s a split in my family, 3 for Trump, 3 against with my oldest sister and youngest brother voting for the TACO!
Stephen.....Yeah he does pick on the weak and vulnerable, but there are a lot of us old cookies still out there ready to fight. At these protests that I have been to are mostly seniors and we are mad as hell what he is doing to this country and our democracy is shameful!!! Keep fighting and go to every protest you find. The next one is June 14th NO KINGS!!!
Right… the country spends a couple trillion a year on seniors… almost entirely funded by far younger workers… yet the richest generation in history is perpetually the victim?
“They” kept my son out of school for almost 2 years to protect the silver fox set from a virus that largely effected the old and unhealthy and posed minimal risk to healthy children…
…5 years later we’re still fighting to get him caught up.
Best hopes for spending public resources on programs most likely to provide a positive return to society.
Gee Kurt, Social Security has been paying out benefits for 85 years. I've been paying into it since 16, in the service at 17 and a long career since. Reagan fixed it in the 80's and we had four FICA increases since. That built up a trust that will run out in 2035 and it will need to be fixed again prior to this. When I worked my contributions paid for the then retired. Some day you will be collecting a benefit as well. As long as we have payroll deduction and FICA there will be Social Security benefits. Better that than turning old people into Soylent Green. Remember; Soylent Green is people. LOL
All we have to do to save Social Security is to raise the cap, currently $176,100.
That means a person who earns $200,000 pays in the same amount as a person who earns $176,100. A person who earns $1,000,000 pays in the same amount as a person who earns $176,100. A person who earns $100,000,000 pays in the same amount as a person who earns $176,100. And so on.
Raise the cap to $1,000,000 or better still infinity & the system will be solvent forever.
Some people have suggested a different cap. If you earn some large amount, say $1,000,000 per year, you cannot collect Social Security.
Both ideas make sense to me.
Very familiar with the concept. The complaint there will be that the raising of the cap will not net a higher benefit to those that pay more into the system. The reason Congress has put off a fix for so long is that no ideas are going to be without pain to someone. Be that raising the retirement age, lifting the cap, means testing the program, reducing the benefit paid out, etc. For people that worked with their brain a longer retirement makes sense. I was a healthcare CEO and could have worked past my 66.6 full retirement age. A roofer on a roof at the age of 70, to get their full-time benefit does not seem very realistic. Taking a benefit at a younger age permanently reduces the benefit amount and isn't fair to hard laborers either.
You do realize that approximately 1,000 “healthy” children died from COVID. A couple I know in their 40’s got it shortly before the shots became available. She was an aerobic instructor and he was a cop, neither will ever work again. Remember very little was actually known about COVID and it was all a learning curve.
Thank you! It was a crummy unsettling time! I truly believe that had we had an actual leader in this country, it wouldn't have been quite so bad & people would have been more unified in limiting the damage caused by COVID! Instead of tackling the pandemic head-on & joining forces with scientists, governors, the medical establishment & other leaders, Trump lied, spread disinformation & used it as a political tool to divide the country further! It was definitely a learning curve for everyone & it's easy to be a Monday morning quarterback! But Trump's lies & the conspiracy theory antivax crowd made it worse & caused deaths! He caused scientists & medical workers to be vilified! I really hoped when he got it that he wouldn't survive!
I really believe that trump is afraid of facts, of reality(not reality TV shows). He has traded his whole life in lives and misinformation. I understand this because I was married to a man with a similar mindset as were a couple of other women I know. Find the book The Sociopath Next Door.
I believe you are correct! That had to be a living nightmare for you!
There are many out there. I was lucky. Friends are the key, do not let him/her cut you off from them. There are a lot who are not as fortunate. Remember women can be just as dangerous.
Kathleen - I know my state found it necessary to hide statistics about child mortality for the 1st 6 months of school closure, (because no school age child had died yet), parents could not know that schools were being kept closed only to reduce risk for teachers, or the next narrative, compromised adults living in the homes of the children needed to be protected by forced social distancing of school children.
The CDC data is still out there for anyone who wishes to look. You are correct that In a nation of 340 million there were thousands of child deaths.
Statistics need to be understood in context, Google tells me there were approximately 3,000 accidental drownings in the US last year. We advocate for swim lessons, for lifeguards, and free CPR training… we don’t tell kids they shouldn’t swim.
My original comment, made in response to the assertion that older Americans might somehow get “screwed by the system”, was that I can list a dozen mega-scale examples of how exactly the opposite occurs openly, in the light of day.
Over the last 20 years our government has massively shifted its spending of public resources from people below age 62 to people above 62. To disagree with this is to debate the force of gravity. The cause is part demographics, sure… but that shift needs to be reversed… or at a minimum stabilized.
My Covid school closure example was meant to illustrate the extreme system bias of the protection of well organized vocal entrenched interests at the expense of the young and working age population.
I have grandchildren in several states, each took a different track, some dependent on climate. One had classes outside. Another was schooled on computer. And still another went to school but if someone in the class was exposed then the children around them were sent home for 10days to one week, this was very disruptive. Of the 8 kids. One had a case of long COVID. All the parents found they became more involved with their children’s education.
As our society changes, so should our Congress. Term limits are a great idea to limit us old folk from hanging on for whatever. Probably dollars.no one in their 80’s should be in government. In fact, no one in their 70’s should be in government. Us old folk are great people with a lot of experience But our capability to change is not a force. Few of US understand LGBTQ+ and don’t comprehend that the stream of consciousness there has already streamed and no matter what we do we can’t stop it and that’s a good thing but this Congress will ever admit it. Term limits for SCOTUS too. Form a free and fair America and be transparent about dementia and PPND as a mental illness (that’s Trump). Finally, if we want any decent representation we must end Citizens United and Corporate dollars as voter persuasion. Buy a Vote should always be illegal in America. Decent Old Folk realize this. At least many of US do.
I'm 75 and I'm tired of all these old farts running everything. They don't want to rock the boat even though Trump is busy sinking it. Let them all walk the plank at midterms so we can seat some young people with enough guts and energy to save the ship.
I agree that some "old farts" in government should make way for new blood! But there are some older excellent leaders whose knowledge & experience is invaluable! It really depends on the individual! The "tea party" brought some younger blood to Congress & they turned out to be useless, ignorant obstructionists who have contributed nothing to government except chaos i.e. Gym Jordan! MTG & Bobo brought younger blood too! That has worked out well! But I do have hope when I see some of the promising young democrats speaking out such as Brendan Boyle (Pa) and Maxwell Frost (FL) and others!
I agree that we need younger people in. But some experienced people need to bring others along.
“Old” people are lovely. It is old ways of thinking that are crippling this country.
Thank you for your mindful comment.
Yes - youth is wasted on the young ( hahaha) I certainly like talking to people that are up to date on the latest breaking news and current events - I learn something new almost everyday and I’m 72.
Same here! Still learning. Still doing Still contributing.
I watched the first minutes on Vs Substack and I was put off by the ongoing (media wide) theme of dismissing people’s skills and abilities based on their age. The actual point is reasonable, I guess, but the free pass to disparage the contribution of people once they hit a certain age is a slippery slope. Imho
Correct!!! I earned my BA when I was 34 and a working single mother. My family couldn't send me to college after high school, so I did it once universities started accepting "older students." (They weren't sure we could keep up. Please!) Then I worked in Silicon Valley and earned my MS when I was 66. I wanted to get it before I collected Social Security. Today in my retirement, I'm a substitute teacher, a political organizer, a newspaper columnist, a non-profit volunteer, a church volunteer, a news junkie, a photographer, a parent, and a grandparent... and I do all my own housework and yard work. Oh... I'm 80 years old, and I can beat anyone with my cane... if I used a cane. Age alone does not determine capability or mental capacity. Bernie is my role model... as is my mother, who passed away only four years ago.
Congratulations! I also went back later. My eldest son was medically fragile and my life work was caring for him. When he passed I was lost and heartbroken. Eventually I decided to finish my BA, so I got it done at age 48.
Good for you!! Never too late for education. And it's something nobody can take away from you.
The objection should be to people who have been in congress for too long, who have given up or become too comfortable.
Agreed!
They can disparage me for my age all the want. The employers still hire me. Haha
Retiring at a decent age isnt JUST about giving your students your best, it is also about letting the next generation get some time in as a leader. Gen X has had a difficult time with upward career mobility because the forever young (in their minds) Boomers wouldnt freaking retire!!! Move over! Be a mentor but pass the torch for goodness sake! I read an article in The Guardian yesterday about an upper management NPS scientist at 69 years old grousing because he is taking “early” retirement. He said he had hoped to stay for 5 more years!!! Move the hell over! A Gen Xer should have been prepped tontake his job 4-5 years ago!! At least!
Many Boomers CAN’T AFFORD to retire. And Boomers paid into the fund all their working lives just like younger people are. I’m really sick of all this hate aimed at Boomers. We didn’t complain about supporting our parents and grandparents by paying into SS.
I would have loved to retire 15 years ago (I’m almost 80) and have just left the workforce due to failing eyesight. As a single mother who put my kid through training so he’d support his family well and caring for elderly family with few resources, the employers that I did time with (and in most cases it was “doing time”) cancelled retirement plans for middle employees. They kept hefty pension plans for the folks at the top of the food chain tho. I now take care of grands when needed while living on social security and a small amount of savings. Tired of being told that I should pass away or stay invisible!!
Tina, you are right. I was upper mgmt as a biologist with a federal agency and a career I loved til the day I retired at 67. I kept telling myself at 62 "I ought to retire and give someone younger the opportunity to move up" - but I loved my job. I could still be doing it today, loving it; I retired 3 years ago. But, you are correct: rise, lead, mentor and move on out the door.
Gen X has always been overlooked but honestly it is too late for most of us to really flourish if we haven’t already. For the betterment of society at large, Gen X needs to support AOC and the youth she leads.
I support AOC and as a Californian I still donate to her even though she isnt a direct representative of mine, because I believe in her overall values. Hell yeah I am for a Green New Deal. That said I disagree about the Gen Xer no longer able to flourish. Maybe Xers cant flourish with long term pensions but there sure as hell better be a plan for truly affordable senior housing for us. We as a generation took it on chin with the long failing arc of Reagan’s mythological trickledown economics. And for Boomers tired of hearing disparaging remarks, too bad, it was overall a selfish generation when it had the greater means and opportunity to steer things better. And you failed.
I totally support AOC.
I saw this a lot in a former employer that had pretty entrenched Boomer management (some of it was a lot had pensions and were waiting for them to vest). Problem was, the pipeline of younger talent started to leave because they didn’t have pensions and realized they were going to have to wait for someone to retire to get promoted.
One example is what happened at the Coal Board in Newcastle England. In the early 20th century former we are selected from the new generation. There was discomfort among succeeding generations, as there was no chance for advancement. That coincided with the decline of the coal pits from 125,000 employees to 25,000 employees by 1983. I am not sure what the employment is now, if any.
Instead of “former were” that should be foreman were selected…
Your point, and that of money, others, his one side of a double sided sword. While upward mobility is essential more senior people often have superior abilities for the job at hand, wisdom and institutional knowledge that helps them produce a much more beneficial outcome.
Jimmy Carter - 'retired' but contributed immensely to the world during his 'retirement'. His impressiveness to me grew with every year he added to his age.
Those clamoring for term limits have probably never lived under them. We don't have Representatives nor Senators running our state. We have lobbyists. Anytime a person figures out where the bathrooms are, and how to get things accomplished, they are gone and we have a new batch of dolts entering Congress. I'll take experience over ignorance any day of the week.
Do you think that Bernie Sanders and Robert Reich are the only seniors who can pass the Gen (fill in the blank) litmus test of acceptable thought? Do you think there should be retirement police? You sound like JD Vance, old women are only good for babysitting. What about experience? What about successful outcomes for your students? Shouldn't the benchmark for who is relevant be how well you do your job? My brother retired at 85 from his medical practice and his patients begged him to stay because his knowledge (acquired over many years) saved their lives. We are not a monolithic group. This is vile.
At that point he should be mentoring young doctors and spreading his knowledge and wisdom around. I’m in my 80’s and believe that we must pass leadership to young people. I don’t know if they will f**k up more than we did. I do believe in institutional knowledge and that mentoring is important. Oh, and as far as old women babysitting, most I know are too busy volunteering except for an occasional helping out. I also prefer to thinking of the “babysitting” as mentoring. You know, things like manners( no cell phones or hats at the table), being considerate and thoughtful and understanding common curtesies.
Hooray for encore careers! I left my ‘career’ at a multinational law firm at 65 to teach evolved parenting and lead outdoor early childhood education classes for parents and kids. I’m poorer - but I’m happier, healthier, more fulfilled and feel my work matters more than ever. We need wisdom and statesmanship more than ever.
In praise of encore careers!
I left university teaching (arts and humanities) at 63, took an administrative job for a few years, and then started law school at age 72. I'll receive my JD at 74, and hope to pass the bar before I'm 75. Then I'm planning to write appellate briefs, or contribute in some other way to corrective justice.
Professor Reich you are still teaching. I count on you to teach me every single day! Thank you for this valuable service! Thank you for educating me!
There are 3 groups backing trump, The Heritage Foundation, and two others I had never heard of and can’t remember. They are writing the EOs and telling trump what to do. Trump wasn’t elected they were.
Ageism is as ugly and unfair as all the other “isms”. AOC doesn’t go around trying to kick everyone over 65 out of politics, she just works hard and speaks out about making the world better for people. She’s been touring with Bernie Sanders, for gawds sake, and he’s no spring chicken. So much of the younger generation just want everything handed to them without doing the work, without educating themselves. Experience matters.
In am in FL and DeSantis attack on teaching African American history as WOKE is a huge step back. It’s incredible he went to elite schools too.