Follow the money--or the votes.

Seniors are not hurting.

"Sen. Tom Harkin (D., Iowa) has introduced legislation to increase Social Security benefits and build a government-run supplemental saving plan. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has so captivated progressives with her demands to raise Social Security payments that she is touted as a potential presidential candidate in 2016."

What this country needs is jobs for young people, not pandering to senior citizens. Today's retirees have been warned since their 30s that Social Security won't be there for them, and most of the couples I know have 5 or 6 streams of income, from a 403-b, or 401-k, or private investments, or annuities, or IRAs, or veterans' pension, or Social Security. There are divorced women living in “committed relationships” still getting financial support from the husband that ran off with his secretary 30 years ago. If they married, they’d lose that.

Politicians know seniors vote. Especially Democrats.

What you probably don't know about Social Security

"Taking Social Security benefits – the right ones at the right time – is one of the biggest financial decisions you’ll ever make, so you need to get it right. Getting it right on your own, however, is neigh impossible." And even checking with the specialists at the local SS office, you can get misinformation. . . the manual has over 2700 separate rules. Add to this what you don't know about Obamacare. . .

Link

Is There a Retirement Crisis?

The idea of working until the end—or closer to it—isn’t new. Many of today’s retirees have enjoyed decades of relaxation financed by company pensions and Social Security, but for most of history, voluntary retirement was the exception, not the rule. “Up to the end of the nineteenth century, people generally worked as long as they could,” Munnell writes. “At the end of their lives, they had only about two years of ‘retirement,’ often due to ill health.”

Is There a Retirement Crisis? by Nicole Gelinas, City Journal Autumn 2011