Refute all day: more young people believe in UFOs than think they will collect their SS payments.

[mahina]

This single bit of data is one point to tackle to move Democratic values, candidates, and elections.

Why do they think that? Disinformation has been very effective. Winger f'ers citation here: http://www.cato.org/pubs/ssps/ssp5.html

Blue Scholars, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=160pGobjmaU

How can we fight that and supplant that misinformation with a truer picture?

For some joy, Blue Scholars ode to Yuri Kochiyama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kcm7VbFCXno&feature=related

I got that third war militance, still think it’s relevant,
Even if them kids got the shirts and stopped wearin 'em.
Humbled in the presence of the veterans
And not the ones who picked up their guns,
But who picked up their brethren and sister and
History in the making I was witnessin',
Listenin', seein' this old Japanese lady with a sticker on her walker, said "Free Mumia" and
this was before the Trustafarians were sayin' it.
Taking it for granted when we talk about the 60's and,
Never get to talk to anybody who did live the shit and still exist
Or better yet, should she still resist, speaking to a myriad of young, dumb and ignorant kids
I was one of 'em,
stuck around lingering,
Said that "It’s a privilege to meet you in person" and,
She took my hand, said "It’s good to meet you too",
And when I’m out of school asked me what I’m gonna do,
I had it think about it, but truth is I knew
That it was something for the youth and shit
Truly I’d probably be a teacher if the music didn't make enough
To make me wanna gamble on it's sustenance,
And that’s why I’m writing this, to tell ya'll
from a scholar

Chorus:
When*I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama.
Holla, swear to my kasamas
When I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama.
And if she ever hear this its an honor
Cause when I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama.
Imma, serve the people proper,
When I grow up I wanna be like Yuri Kochiyama.



I see the picture up in Life magazine
You were sittin' front seat for Malcolm’s last speech.
Saw the first man with the shotgun (Boom)
Two more came to get the job done.
Now who would've thought that it'd be you holding him?
I wonder what you felt when his eyes were going dim.
And if he never died, would we know that he exists?
Or would he have been the leader that we always seem to miss?
Now there's no taking back whatever happens in our midst
You remind me that it's more than just a martyr and a myth.
You could've said it quits many times ever since and you find
There will always be a reason for the fist.
The last one to hold him could've been somebody else
You'd still be remembered for the people that you helped.
They said to keep trying but never lose that hope,
Revolutionaries die, but the revolution don’t.
And it won’t and I’m put that
on my momma

Chorus:
Cause when I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama.
Holla, swear to my kasamas
When I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama.
And if she ever hear this it's an honor
Cause when I grow up I wanna be just like Yuri Kochiyama.
Imma, serve the people proper,
When I grow up I wanna be like Yuri Kochiyama.

[SpiralHawk]

1. Refudiators unite!

or not

[mahina]

4. Yeah, that's the other guys.

[tama]

2. Hey,

when even Nouriel Roubini, mainstream economist who earned loads of cred points by correctly predinting this crisis of credit crunch that began in 2008, says that capitalism - as we know it - is now self destructing, meaning that money as we know it is self-destructing and all the pension funds etc. with it, it seems that the young people you think you need to educate have more realistic view on world than big D democrats of "(the other corporate) party first, nation and people next".

[mahina]

3. Except that removing the 90k a year cap on FICA will make SS solvent

till 2080.

Whatevas. If you think we should just give up, after you, brother.

[tama]

6. You are still suffering from myopia

this is not just about SS, this is about capitalism as we know it collapsing and the fiat money creation system collapsing - together with all pension funds etc. with it.

Yes, my advice is to give up on sticking with capitalism and fiat money creating system and private banking based on interest, and thus enabling continued and increasing misery during the death pangs of this system.

That is, if we want real social security that is sustainable (meaning not based on debt from future generations, pillaging our environment etc.) and radical enough to be fair and democratic to all citizens, radical enough to be plausible to younger generations that are not as stupid as you claim, understanding quite well that they have nothing to expect from this financial system.

[mahina]

9. Rude.

You don't know what I think about capitalism, by the way.

Bye.

[tama]

12. No offence ment

so why taken?

Or do you mean that saying out loud that the SS is just a minor detail of the larger picture (and hence, putting all attention and emotion into defending it, is 'myopic' by definition) is rude?

Or is your faith in the current fiat money system so firm - or so insecure - that saying it's in the process of collapsing is rude?

And no, I cannot know what are your views on capitalism, unless you tell me.

[boppers]

8. Assuming that inflation doesn't go insane again.

I already gave mine up mentally, as I "know" it's not going to be there, and what I'm paying in now I hope is being spent on the neediest as the program slowly winds down.

[mahina]

10. That is one possibility, but it's by far the worst case scenario.

I admire your compassion for others who are in need though. I feel that way too, but with some tweaks, the social security system will be there for all of us.

Unless we start trading in big stone money or yak hides or whatever.

[boppers]

13. The compassion comes from my grandfather, Walter. He lived to 97, died just this year.

Between age 50 and age 85, he and his wife Estelle spent most of their volunteer time working with the "elderly".... which was a bit of a running joke for them, as at age 85, they were still helping 60 year-old "kids" figure out later life.

According to him, the problems with Social Security were as follows (a conversation we had in 1987):
1. The payouts were laughably small for end-care for anybody without family support (He was paying over $3,600 a month for medications alone at this point... per month).
2. "The government always goes broke". (He rode out the great depression, and several recessions, and watched the debt with disbelief most of his life....) He didn't believe the government could be trusted, because in his lifetime, it had failed him.... multiple times.
3. "They spend too much on war". He knew his SS was funding WWII, Korea, Vietnam (etc.).
4. "How come parenting does earn work credit?" If you work all of your life, but don't pay in, as far as the system is concerned, it wasn't "work".
5. "I never see rich needing help, why do we still pay them anyways?" A thought about means-testing, from a man who remembered that when it was introduced, it was supposed to help the elderly who needed it, but helping "everybody" was an eventual compromise. ("Everybody" is in quotes, because if a married couple had a daily piecework husband, and a SAHM wife, and children who also did piecework, if the husband died, the wife got nothing).... I think this might still be true today, as well.
6. (And this is a bitter phrase, spoken from a man, abused by his violent alcoholic father for years, growing up in NYC in the 1920's-30's, and he had worked with a lot of elderly people by the time he said it..... (just a warning for context)): "If your family won't support you in your later years, maybe you have it coming".

As far as stones and yak hides, Estelle died first, Walter a few years later.... and when Walter died, their cash money was in 5 different banks in 15 different accounts (they didn't trust banks), with *NO* money in stocks, *NO* money in bonds (etc)... but their possessions included baskets (yes, baskets) of silver coins, jewelry hidden all over (in light fixtures, old suits, under cabinets, and "in plain sight", where diamond/platinum rings were in the same bowl as pretty glass "costume jewels"). About 25% their 97 years of wealth was in cash, the other 75% was in physical assets.

[mahina]

14. Wonderful to read about them, thank you!

We had an old cowboy from North Kohala, Kingo Gushikuma, who had 20. bills rolled up in his socks all over the corrale. Lived super frugally.

I will keep their story in my mind. Thanks again.

[unkachuck]

5. "How can we fight that and supplant that misinformation with a truer picture? "

....by acknowledging and demonstrating to young people that they can do both....many old people collecting Social Security are strong believers in UFOs....

....and when you reach your Social Security, you'll be a strong believer too.

[mahina]

7. Touche!

[county worker]

11. Hell I'm 65 and I not sure I'm going to get what that SS Admin is telling me I'm going to get.

They even put in their letter that the laws may change and what they are telling me may not be what happens. I'm less than one year away!