Spring Break
The Daily OrangeOur generation remains silent on U.S. Social Security problem
By Jett Wells
Posted: 10/22/07, 12:19 AM EST Section: Opinion
We don't want to be our parents, and we certainly aren't like them when it comes to political activism.
Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times, calls us Generation Q - "Q" for quiet. We've heard this before when it comes to our apathy toward the war and other issues, but Friedman brought up an issue our generation really needs to consider: Social Security.
It's not glamorous and it certainly doesn't end with suicide terrorists or tsunamis. However, Social Security is the one issue that is mostly about us, and it's a wonder why the most personal issue of all doesn't hit home in the slightest for our generation.
"When I think of the huge budget deficit, Social Security deficit and ecological deficit that our generation is leaving this generation, if they are not spitting mad, well, then they're just not paying attention. And we'll just keep piling it on them," said Friedman in his Oct. 10 column. "There is a good chance that members of Generation Q will spend their entire adult lives digging out from the deficits that we - the 'Greediest Generation,' epitomized by George W. Bush - are leaving them."
Friedman toured four different colleges in a week, and he concluded, among other things, that concern over social security is absent.
For those of you who don't know the growing concern about social security, pay attention. Given the incredible debt America is in right now, especially with a war looking to cost trillions of dollars and the baby boom generation - which started in 1946 - beginning to retire, Social Security pay checks are going to come right out of our generation's pockets. Taxes are going to be ridiculous just to break even with the atrocious debt we now face. Some accountants in Congress fear the baby boom generation retirement with this debt could collapse the entire economy.
Let the madness begin now that the first baby boomer ever, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, just applied for Social Security Oct. 15.
So where are the kids spitting out their milk? If you're going to ask that question, you have to ask who is covering the issue. Social Security isn't a headline, not like global warming, Barack Obama or the Iraq War. Undecided freshman Whitt Bell realizes this.
"It probably does (deserve attention) but it won't," Bell said. "The physical issues on earth (global warming, war in Iraq) will get more coverage than anything about our economy. That being said, if it is really bad, then someone in Congress has to acknowledge it."
Truth is, coverage isn't totally absent, and you just have to look a little harder. "60 Minutes" covered this issue over the summer. Christopher Buckley, who everyone knows from "Thank You for Smoking," released his latest satire, "Boomsday!" on this same topic. I guess if it's not smothering you on CNN or Fox News, then it might as well not exist.
Jett Wells is a biweekly columnist for The Daily Orange. He can be reached at tjwell01@syr.edu.
Thomas L. Friedman, a columnist for The New York Times, calls us Generation Q - "Q" for quiet. We've heard this before when it comes to our apathy toward the war and other issues, but Friedman brought up an issue our generation really needs to consider: Social Security.
It's not glamorous and it certainly doesn't end with suicide terrorists or tsunamis. However, Social Security is the one issue that is mostly about us, and it's a wonder why the most personal issue of all doesn't hit home in the slightest for our generation.
"When I think of the huge budget deficit, Social Security deficit and ecological deficit that our generation is leaving this generation, if they are not spitting mad, well, then they're just not paying attention. And we'll just keep piling it on them," said Friedman in his Oct. 10 column. "There is a good chance that members of Generation Q will spend their entire adult lives digging out from the deficits that we - the 'Greediest Generation,' epitomized by George W. Bush - are leaving them."
Friedman toured four different colleges in a week, and he concluded, among other things, that concern over social security is absent.
For those of you who don't know the growing concern about social security, pay attention. Given the incredible debt America is in right now, especially with a war looking to cost trillions of dollars and the baby boom generation - which started in 1946 - beginning to retire, Social Security pay checks are going to come right out of our generation's pockets. Taxes are going to be ridiculous just to break even with the atrocious debt we now face. Some accountants in Congress fear the baby boom generation retirement with this debt could collapse the entire economy.
Let the madness begin now that the first baby boomer ever, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, just applied for Social Security Oct. 15.
So where are the kids spitting out their milk? If you're going to ask that question, you have to ask who is covering the issue. Social Security isn't a headline, not like global warming, Barack Obama or the Iraq War. Undecided freshman Whitt Bell realizes this.
"It probably does (deserve attention) but it won't," Bell said. "The physical issues on earth (global warming, war in Iraq) will get more coverage than anything about our economy. That being said, if it is really bad, then someone in Congress has to acknowledge it."
Truth is, coverage isn't totally absent, and you just have to look a little harder. "60 Minutes" covered this issue over the summer. Christopher Buckley, who everyone knows from "Thank You for Smoking," released his latest satire, "Boomsday!" on this same topic. I guess if it's not smothering you on CNN or Fox News, then it might as well not exist.
Jett Wells is a biweekly columnist for The Daily Orange. He can be reached at tjwell01@syr.edu.
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