Finally Someone Other Than Me: Stop Coddling the Elderly

"Stop coddling the elderly" says Bob Samuelson, the very not-right-wing economic columnist.

It has long been obvious that the 65-and-over population doesn't fit the Depression-era stereotype of being uniformly poor, sickly and helpless. Like under-65 Americans, those 65 and over are diverse. Some are poor, sickly and dependent. Many more are financially comfortable (or rich), in reasonably good health and more self-reliant than not. With life expectancy of 19 years at age 65, most face many years of government-subsidized retirement. The stereotype survives because it's politically useful. It protects those subsidies. It discourages us from asking: Are they all desirable or deserved? For whom? At what age?

Kinda like when I said that we are going bankrupt buying hip replacements for the richest cohort of people to ever walk the Earth.

We will self destruct if we run trillion dollar deficits by giving the wealthiest cohort of individuals to ever walk the Earth free artificial joints and unneeded retirement income, which is what Medicare and Social Security amount to.

I'm talking first principles.  Why do we do things?  At the basic level.  Why? 

Short answer:  AARP.  Once upon a time, they were a smallish lobbying group mostly representing an actual and somewhat deserving constituency.  Now, they are a near impervious back-room power player run by a bunch of professional lefty redistributionists with only a tangential motivation in serving their nominal constituency's best interests.