Many years ago I was studying for a Masters Degree at the University of Houston Clear Lake. I had some phenomenal professors who introduced to to ideas and knowledge of which I had before then been unaware. I took a class in Labor Law that was so enlightening that if I had been a bit younger I might have considered going to law school as the professor encouraged me to do. Another class on Public Administration taught me all about the agencies in Washington D.C. and the people who work at them. I learned the importance of keeping such agencies as free of political influence as possible. The trouble with them is not that they are attempting to ram regulations down our throats but that some political parties are attempting to reshape them to represent certain ideologies.
I also became convinced that there is great benefit to everyone when individuals work together within teams to create and work for common goals. When the initial phase of arguing and storming does not lead to cooperation it is a sign the the institution is severely broken. This is where we appear to be today within all three branches of our government. The executive branch of the incoming president is attempting to choose a cabinet whose loyalty will be to him rather than to the Constitution and the American people. The Congress and the Senate accomplish little or nothing because they are always bickering. They have surrendered their focus on making laws to the president who just issues executive orders that change with each new election. The Supreme Court has decided that the chief executive is immune to the same laws that everyone else must follow. The result is a federal government that seems to go in circles and cater more to a particular ideology than to the idea of working things out and compromising for the good of all the citizens.
Perhaps the most informing class that I took was called Benefits and Compensation which focused on the kinds of perks that companies and institutions provide for employees beyond salaries. Some are specified by unions, some by law, and some are related to Social Security and Medicare rules. I remember the professor warning of the ultimate crash of Social Security if the Congress continued to refuse to make needed changes bit by bit.
The prof explained that when Social Security first came to be an actuarial study was made to learn when the average American would most likely die. At the time is was the age of sixty five so when that age was used as the time of retirement and payout of the funds most of the people who had contributed would already be dead. In other words they understood that there was no way that the program was sustainable unless most people never made it that far.
Over time medical care improved but the age at which citizens could claim the SS benefits only slightly changed. In the nineteen nineties when I took the class on benefits and compensation the average age of death for Americans was in the late seventies. I would suspect that it may be even a bit higher by now. Not only that, but the Boomer generation is huge and there are even a few older folks who are still hanging on in their nineties. As the prof pointed out the system will only work in the future if we are willing to make changes.
I remember an uncle who was fairly well to do saying that he felt it was wrong for him to take the Social Security payments even though he had paid into them. He commented that many of his retired friends would joke the SS was paying their greens fees so that they might play golf more often. He suggested that there should be some kind of cutoff point after which a person is no longer eligible for the payments much like they do with retirees from the military, firefighting, politicking and teaching. I don’t know how much of a dent such a thing might work out to be but I would hate to think that those who really need those payments might one day lose their checks otherwise.
My husband has pointed out that a while back Congress put a cap on payments to Social Security after reaching a certain income. We now have billionaires who don’t pay another dime after they very quickly reach this plateau. Maybe we should return to a time when there was no cap. If someone reaches a very high income it would help if they would have to continue paying their proportional share.
I could go on and on about what I learned in the class that so changed the way that I think. I have ideas about Medicare as well and even health insurance. All I know is that we seem to be speeding toward a crisis caused by our need for basic security and healthcare. Like far too many things our government fears the idea of doing the right things and working together to solve the problems. Instead we are now faced with the prospect of unelected billionaires deciding the fate of so many of our agencies. Somehow I suspect that some of my old professors would be shaking their heads and reminding us that they tried to warn us about what was coming. When will we learn to look ahead rather than waiting for the last minute? There have always been feasible answers but they will only happen when we finally decide to work as a team and assess payments and needs according to proportion.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 