Robert J. Samuelson vs the AARP

Good Afternoon folks:

I have just finished reading this weeks issue of Newsweek, and I am sadly disappointed in this usually fine magazine. In this issue Robert J. Samuelson attacks the AARP and by inference all the retired people in the United States. According to RJS, or Joe Stalin Jr. as I call him, America's financial troubles are all the fault of the people in the USA who had the utter arrogance to live, and work, until they reached retirement age, and then audaciously accept a niggardly (no that's not a racial slur--look it up)amount each month from Social Security, into which we, the grey generation, paid into for most, if not all, of our working life.

Now if this fine old idiot had simply pointed out that most retirees receive more in Social Security payments than they paid into the Account over their working life, I, for one, would have no quarrel with him. But if I may be so bold as to ask this ass whose fault is it that this situation exists ? No one asked me (or mine) if we were paying in enough to S.S. to keep the ledger balanced, and our temerity in accepting Social Security Payments as our due would not be questioned. But no one asked us. The system was created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and has been the salvation of many an older person who, inevitably was facing financial ruin because of Huge medical bills, and I am such a person.

I worked for almost 20 years in the Nuclear Industry, and have the scars and illnesses to prove it. I was badly injured in a work-place accident in 1985, was not allowed to return to work, as the illnesses I contracted as a result of breathing in Uranium dust, Asbestos Particles, and every chemical known to man had ruined my lungs, kidneys, bladder and thyroid, and I could no longer pass a standard breathing test.

For those same almost 20 years, I had paid into not only Social Security, but had the full cost of a disability plan deducted from my monthly paycheck, so when I was placed on disability by the company for which I worked, I assumed, naively, that my disability plan, as promised, would come into play. Boy was I ever wrong! I was told by one of the blow-dried,wingtip wonders who worked in Human Relations (a standing joke at the lab where I worked was that this Department should have been called 'Barely,Human relations"`) that I had to apply for Social Security Disability. I replied that I didn't want to, as I had paid in a Disability-Income plan for about 20 years. I was told that, in order to draw on my self-funded plan, I had to first apply for Social Security, otherwise my plan would be null and void.

I followed this field order, and reluctantly filed for Social Security Disability. In due course I was contacted by Social Security and questioned about my application. I told the nice lady rather bluntly "I don't want the damned Social Security payments", and that " I was being forced by my employer to apply as a condition of receiving ANY sort of payment for my injuries, even though they occurred on the job". and whiz bang zippo, I received a letter saying my claim for Social Security Disability had been approved . After notifying my company that I had received the above mentioned benefit, I was told that since I would be receiving Social Security, my Personal Disability Plan would not apply. To this day I think I was screwed, but since I worked for a company with about 78000 employees, there was no point in my fighting for justice. Now, I tell my personal story to illustrate one point, that most of us old geezers worked our collective asses off all our working life, and when, as always occurs, we are no longer able to work, by damn we don't appreciate being thought of as the part of the population that is Bankrupting the Country. We send Politicians to Washington to take care of that task.

So, Mr. Marx, er, Samuelson, I am just as damned sorry as I can be that we retired people are such an inconvenience as to absolutely cripple the Government, but, I will take, as a point of privilege, the opportunity to speak for most, if not all, retired people in the United States, and simply say "We are dying as fast as we know how", BUT, you arrogant Asshole, the overwhelming majority of us worked at Honest Labor to earn at least a small portion of our Social Security , and damned few of us "earned" a living by writing articles for a collection of Left-Wing publications , and if thats honest labor I'm a Jackass from Georgia (and I'm from Kentucky)

And NEWSWEEK ought to be ashamed of themselves, surely they can find a cheap writer thats less biased than this idiot.

Courage


The Old Professor