From the time you are employed over 15% of your wages were taken away for Social Security and Medicare. If you are employed by someone else you paid about 7.5% and your employer paid the other 7.5%. If you are self-employed you pay it all. Inasmuch as we say the employer pays 7.5% for you, do not be fooled, you paid it because I can guarantee you that absent that 7.5% your salary would be higher. The same is true for health insurance. American wages have been stagnant partially because of increasing health insurance cost. The company forgoes a bigger wage increase because of your health insurance. The employers’ cost per employee still increases but the income is transferred to the shareholders of private insurance companies and the providers of inflated health care services and drug providers.
I hope you are getting the picture. The cost of everything ultimately is borne by the working middle class. So this morning after getting back from the gym I pulled out my Xoom Pad and opened my pulse app. I was shocked by one of the first stories titled “AIG Chief Sees Retirement Age as High as 80 After Crisis”. Usually when you read articles like these, you are eased into the reasoning behind the shocking statement. Not this time. The article begins
American International Group Inc. (AIG) Chief Executive Officer Robert Benmosche said Europe’s debt crisis shows governments worldwide must accept that people will have to work more years as life expectancies increase.
“Retirement ages will have to move to 70, 80 years old,” Benmosche, who turned 68 last week, said during a weekend interview at his seaside villa in Dubrovnik, Croatia. “That would make pensions, medical services more affordable. They will keep people working longer and will take that burden off of the youth.”
The crisis, now in its third year, threatens to destroy Europe’s 17-nation currency union as Greece contemplates exiting the euro and Spain sees its bond yields rise and banking industry falter. German Chancellor Angela Merkel hardened her opposition to joint debt sharing in the euro region as U.S. President Barack Obama singled out Europe’s leaders for not doing enough to arrest the crisis.
Greece abandoning the euro could be a disaster for the country and Europe must work to keep that from happening, said Benmosche, whose company was the world’s biggest insurer before it took a U.S. bailout.
“People in Greece have to see there is no easy way out of this” and the government must get them to work longer, he said in the June 2 interview on the Adriatic coast. “If not, and if they go to their own currency, I think they will see huge inflation and it will be devastating for people on fixed incomes.”
Anyone reading this article must come to the conclusion that what Mr. Benmosche is saying is that they want workers to work until they die and as such there would be no liability by the state to pay for the promise of a retirement. The man is at his seaside villa in Dubrovnik, Croatia as he is saying this. As I have mentioned in previous blogs we are so conditioned by the misinformation from our corporate media that selfishness and economic abuse on the working class seem vogue.
I have a message for our working middle class. It is you that made America. It is your labor and intellect that have built the infrastructure and companies of this country. It is you that purchase the products and services you produce whose profits have made the wealthy class wealthy. It is your labor, innovation, and no how that created the companies that vulture capitalist come into in order to extract profits with no real risk. As such do not listen to any politician who requests austerity from you. You have been austere for over 32 years. That is how long working middle class wages have been stagnant.
Do not accept any changes in the social security promise you have worked for. You must be responsible in understanding the game. The working middle class pays social security on all their income. The wealthy pays almost none relative to their share of income and capital gains. Working class Americans must stand on this principle going forward. We will not accept any changes in our safety net (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) until all income, capital gains and all passive income is taxed exactly the same as the working man’s income. It is time for the working middle class to educate ourselves about what is being effected on our financial well-being and stand up to ensure it does not continue. It is our responsibility to fight back for ourselves, our families, and our country. The AIGs and other big multinational corporations move from country to county to extract wealth for a select few. As far as they are concerned, the working middle class is nothing but a commodity, an indentured servant that when used up should be discarded at the least cost possible.
Check out my latest answer at one of our CNN iReport debates.
Robin O'Connor says
This is true…and even though I want to keep working some, the operative word is “some.” I’ll be 70 in a few months, and would rather work “only” about 20 hours a week. That’s if I could keep getting work. But with fewer books getting published and with so many more people competing for the work that is available, that is not so easy to find. And then many people like us have taken whatever retirement income we might have had, yes including the entire equity in our homes and we have used it to bail out our grown children from their outrageous grad school debt (or some other impossible burden). I wonder if things keep going as they have been…do you think millions of us in our 70s and 80s will gather and occupy government/corporate buildings to get out of the cold?
Paul Forste says
Apologies for lacking time to follow this thread right now. I would like very much to dialogue with individuals who live in the following circumstances: 1.) Reside within, or within easy commuting distance of, New York City…2.) Have executive capability… 3.) Are politically progressive with a dedication to making progress with individuals of every political persuasion (i.e.beyond tolerant -inclusive) … 4.)Have some knowledge of United States election finance law… (an attorney or someone knowing a network of lawyers would be useful, but not required)…4.) The ability to work roughly three to eight hours per week for relatively no compensation, for up to one year (or maybe two) (after which time adequate executive compensation in exchange for a full time commitment will kick in)…
I will be establishing a working partnership with an individual with these qualifications. It is easy to track who I AM -Paul Forste. Reach me at paul2@anyol.com . Please put “MONSTER PAC”, only, in all caps, in the subject line, or I may miss your response. Individuals who are not in the specific circumstances listed above need not respond. Thanks.