Here’s a collection of facts that could trigger you to vomit up your last meal. One to get you warmed up:
“10,000 baby boomers shall retire today, tomorrow and every day for the next 16 years”.
Meanwhile the taxpayers forced to care for them are taking home the smallest share of the income pie that has ever been recorded.
More on the greatest demographic tidal wave in the history of the United States
Harper’s answer is to raise the retirement age to 67. I thought all the old people vote him him, at least they used to. After working (like a dog?) all my life and looking after generations of people, the pot will be empty when it’s my turn. I retire in a couple years. Maybe I might have to whore myself out to the NDP to keep myself alive.
Boo Frikkin hoo. Suck it up buttercup, yes I am retired and yes I deserve every penny I get for no other reason than I faithfully paid my taxes as I was sold to do in order to reap the “benefits”. It most certainly not my fault that the following generations did not procreate enough taxpayers. And before the bleeding hearts start to cry, although I am newly retired, I have one of my progeny living back home and three parents my wife and I “help” out. Oh yes, as my generous pension was adjusted all of 0.738%, my property taxes went up by 2%, hydro, water and everything else by more than that.
Quit yer whining.
My retirement plan has always been to assume there would be no money from government pension plans when the time comes. If there is, then I’ll be able to live even better than I figured.
Even though I don’t need to, I plan to work until I’m 67 just to piss off whiners like you.
Too many takers, not enough contributors. Trouble ahead. The USA “Titanic” is heading fot hast iceberg at full speed.
Brokistan. The brokest nation in history. On track to cause every other country to go broke via exported inflation. Reserve Currency of the World! As Good As Gold!!! Do you REALLY think that there is gold in Fort Knox? Do you REALLY think that Canada has any gold in her International Reserves? Or do you think it just might have been “leased out”?
You know what to do. Precious metals can also include brass, lead and blued steel.
Aren’t we known as the selfish generation by the LSM? All we ever did was pay for the pensions of our parents, educate the next generation and take care of ourselves. Hmmm. Hope there’s more selfish people out there like us.
“Harper’s answer is to raise the retirement age to 67.”
Nope. You can retire any time you want but you can’t collect CPP until age 60 for a reduced amount and 65 for the full amount. OAS currently starts at 65 but between 2023 and 2029 will increase to age 67. If you were born before 1958, nothing will change.
At least we’ll get an Obamba phone. Dooooh, or not.
So the Ponzi scheme is starting to collapse in upon itself and there are actually people that are surprised? The warnings have been there for decades but no one wanted to admit to seeing them. How could anyone honestly believe that paying such a miniscule amount of money every paycheque will amount to a comfortable living when retirement comes? Was it because the politician they voted for promised it to them? Then they’re as gullible as they are blind and stupid.
Well, I don’t expect to “retire” when I’m 65, or when I’m 67, and was born before 1958. I just don’t expect the CPP will cover my needs, and never expected it would. Cynical, I am. I do have money in RRSP’s, and no debt to speak of.
I simply plan on continuing to work, but to work fewer and fewer contracts as time goes on. Fortunately, I’m in an industry where is some chance of being able to do that, although demand remains high right now.
If you didn’t plan for a full on economic collapse and your Government retirement not being there, you didn’t plan for retirement at all.
All is just fine for those bravely planning to work past 67, let’s just hope that you can.
Allot happens between now and then, regardless of however long that may be.
When social security eligibility was set at 65, the average person only lived to be… 67.
In other words: They never really expected anybody to collect on this thing.
The CCP age should be raised to 80.
Or else we just get rid of it and send everyone a one time check for the $ they were forced to pay in.
Knight 99 is right. If you actually thought you were gonna see any of this money, that’s just sad.
This is hilarious. The demographic bulge started in about 1948, yet some people are SURPRISED that those born around that time are turning 65.
I guess it’s true that math is hard.
Rather stark demonstration of the faith people place in government.
That national debt might be a clue.
As a thought experiment, do you still have faith in government ability, its willingness to be bound by law and contract?
Think of the persons you know employed by government, would you trust your life savings to these individuals?
Retirement was an illusion that collapsed decades ago, in a socialist society like Canada, you cannot protect your wealth from govt theft, you have no rights but to slave on for the collective good.
Remember those temporary taxes?
1917, income tax.
1993? Temporary GST
Constantly rising fees, surcharges on govt controlled monopoly services.
Hydro,water, sewer,……
Mandated thefts, drivers license,vehicle registration, permits…never decrease do they.
Kleptocracy works real good.
If you are of the well connected few.
Or on the take.
The problem is not nearly so severe for Americans.
Our ace-in-the-hole is nuclear weapons.
We’ve adopted the financial and foreign policy that can be summarized as:
“Give us your sh*t for free, or we’ll kill you”.
Any country that even THINKS about getting off the $US as reserve currency wagon,
rapidly finds itself on the Axis of Evil.
Ask Libya, Venezuela, Iran, North Korea, Iraq.
As long as we have green ink, well be fine.
As long as the expansion of Green Stamps (isn’t that what food stamps used to be called) means nobody will be working to kick into pension funds.
The USA populace seems to be way overconfident about the ability of the state to deliver.
As long as you have green ink, you’ll keep needing red ink. Demographics means you haven’t grown enough soldiers to carry on that “Give us your sh*t for free or we’ll kill you” strategy.
I don’t know much about social security in the US, but I’d be surprised to discover that there are many Canadians that have been “planning” to work full-time until age 65 and then retire luxuriously on their Canada Pension Plan(CPP) augmented by Old Age Security (OAS).
More likely is that many people haven’t been planning anything. Instead they live day-to-day, paycheck-to-paycheck, visa statement to visa statement. And here’s a big surprise: these people are not all baby boomers (approx. 1947-1963). There are plenty of post-baby-boomers who have failed to plan responsibly.
So let’s not get sucked-in to the developing poop-on-boomers scapegoat ploy. The underlying societal causes of the current situation transcend any notion of “generation”.
Kathy Shaidle says The CCP age should be raised to 80. I say that raising eligibility for [whichever benefit she’s referring to] to age 80 would not change anything because we’ll still have people who emulate Aesop’s ant and grasshopper; those that plan and those that don’t.
Be well assured that not all baby boomers are grasshoppers.
In the article, Michael asks, “So where are we going to get the money?”
Easy. It’s called user fees. Either the system collapses under a payout burden that general taxation can’t sustain or a fee schedule is introduced that hits everyone on a fee for service basis.
The fact that 10,000 boomers retire every day is not relevant to much of anything. What’s relevant is that they were awarded state-supported benefits for which they did not pay enough tax or contribute enough in social security payroll deductions.
It’s really simple; if the benefits payouts are too high then you increase the contribution or you cut the benefits. Under the Harper government, we’re doing both. The problem in the US is that they have neither the fortitude nor a significant political consensus on how to deal with the problem.
And so, until they do, the problem will eat them.
None of my circle of old farts are relying on the FedGovCo.’s retirement money. My sainted father, an astute WWII vet and business man, drilled into my family’s heads that it could not last.
Hence, no retirement plan in our clan includes the Federal participation. we paid in as a tax, knowing it was going to ‘other programs’.
I suspect this constant drip-drip-drip of this repeated statement is a predecessor to confiscation of saved wealth. Get the youngun’s to be envious of the old ones – makes it easier to have the youngun’s give their elders the Statist retirement plan ( 9 mm variety).
Raise the CCP to 80? sure. whatever. Most of the 35-and-unders won’t see it, don’t plan, and figure they’re dead by 50 anyway.
Canned goods and ammunition have excellent value.
I wonder how the Hip Pop food stamp entitlement generation will celebrate retirement.
Guess they just keep going after 65 – 67 whatever.
Sell fewer drugs to minor’s maybe? Sell off their Obamba phone collection and have the state move them to a smaller more manageable tax funded crib? Buy the finest pink pimp mobile that YOU can afford them as their “last car”.
Planning, planning it’s what it’s all about.
For the baby boomers. If you saved nothing then too bad so sad. You’ve already left behind a mountain of debt. When, not if, the gov’t is forced to cut back I suggest it include CPP and OAS. If any boomers were foolish enough not to save anything and think they could retire with nothing in the bank and a whole lot of red ink for follow ons then think again. For those boomers who put aside a nest egg good on you. For the others suck it up, Wal-Mart’s hiring.
Listen to captain entitelment
Exactly Greg. When the boomers were younger they were all for capitalism and keep your hands off my money. Now that they are closer to death they are all turning socialist and want what was promised to them by Pierre. The government is scared and any changes are all to the younger generation, they wont touch these old farts cheese. I am counting on nothing being there and fending for myself, but before the boomers are all dead, they are going to cost all of us a lot of money.
Good points Mark. I refer to them as the locus generation. Yes yes I know some have saved up but the vast majority have saved nothing and passed us on a debt. I wish the system would go broke tomorrow. I’d love to see the look on their faces when they realize they’ll have to work for their retirement.
Actually the Boomers I know were all about excess, plenty for them, and plenty for their brats that they let run loose on society.
The generally nonpolitical boomers on the right fed themselves well and complained about the ills of liberalism without paying much heed to its origins or root cause. They at least made an effort to “bring them up right”, as best they could in a liberalized drug fueled society.
The Boomers on the left sucked on their own successes like pigs at a Roman orgy, and still do into retirement. They’re the biggest whiners of all, the b*tching retirees with their noses in everyone else’s business while they demand the best for themselves at all times. No sacrifice is too small for them providing that it’s too them.
No, food stamps were not the same thing as Green Stamps. S & H Green Stamps were a promotional deal, given out by many retailers, as an inducement to consumer loyalty. Each purchase earned a consumer some tiny percentage of the total in “Green Stamps”, which were essentially scrip, and could be redeemed for goods, once enough had been accumulated. The closest modern equivalent is the Air Miles program.
I never expected to be collecting a pension and 67 is only 15 years away for me. I was lucky to have known an eccentric chartered accountant back in the early 80s and he saw this coming back in the 50s. He told me to build wealth in real assets, like land and other durable goods and never play the stock market or save paper money. I have acted accordingly ever since and when it all goes sideways I will pack up, fly to my “retirement” property, weld the gate shut then release the dogs and power up the fence. Then relax, sit back and watch it all unfold on my big screen TV powered by my own hydro-electric plant.
Truth is I can’t wait to go.
“Meanwhile the taxpayers forced to care for them are taking home the smallest share of the income pie that has ever been recorded. By: Rob”
not everyone agrees with that belief, got any facts to back it up?
Canadian politicians have been trying to make the middle class out to be a poor huddled mass of declining fortunes, but a landmark study from Statistics Canada paints very much the opposite picture.
The study, released Tuesday, shows the median net worth of Canadian families jumped 44.5% to $243,800 in 2012, up from $168,700 in 2005. Over the past 15 years, the median net worth figure leaps 80%. The numbers are adjusted for inflation and measure the amount of money left over if all debts were paid and all assets were sold.
“This shows the middle class isn’t withering away,”
http://business.financialpost.com/2014/02/25/canada-middle-class-statscan-net-worth/
Green Stamps were one of the original shopper loyalty programs, not food stamps. Back then, food stamps were government cheese (literally) and other foods. Saw them in a neighbor’s pantry once – it was considered quite shameful to receive them.
Things are different now. Not better, necessarily, but different. And amen, brother to the guy who is working to 67. I have saved more than most, but will it be enough? Maybe, but there is no do over.
Its been said the baby boomers are the most selfish generation ever. It has also been said that suicide is the most selfish act one can make. Prediction: watch for a huge increase in elderly suicide.
cryptic cynic?
What do you think the long-term push for assisted suicide is about?
To cull the herd.
Specifically the elderly.
DaWG