Emigration and immigration issues worry retiring seniors

Lake Takepo and Mt Cook in New Zealand

Many people worry about immigration amnesty because of the burden that already exists on Americans with rising health care costs, Medicare and Social Security.  This is often cited by politicians  like Phil Gingrey, Republican in the United States Congress from the State of Georgia, as a reason not to be too quick to offer a permanent home to people who came to the United States through other than legal channels.  But it isn't just immigration that worries retiring seniors.  It's also whether or not emigrating to another country is possible and whether it is even a good idea.

While prejudice lies at the foundation of some of the resistance toward immigration amnesty, these financial concerns are often cited by conservatives and liberals alike.  How to balance benefits and provide an alternative to citizenship remains one of the concerns in developing a way to become a citizen in the United States.

While U.S. citizens struggle with the issue of illegal immigrants and ways to deal with the problem, other nations have dealt with it by restrictive laws that prohibit many people, including Americans, from immigration to their countries.  There are very few countries that welcome retirees, or even people over 55 years of age.  New Zealand is one of those countries that opens the door to its immediate neighbors, and some of those from its ancestral European members; however, it is virtually impossible for anyone to enter New Zealand legally and own property who is over age 55 and doesn't have a skill the country deems especially desirable.

South America has often been cited as a haven for retired people.  Yet in many of the countries that used to draw senior citizens to their shores, offering lower cost of living, medical benefits and other desirable elements, the doors in some respect have been at least partially locked against folks who might present a drain on a country's social welfare programs.  And the cost of living is no longer as inexpensive in relationship to the United States, as evidenced by Costa Rica.  Most people, it is said, reconsider their move to Costa Rica and return; so those who do want to move there are counseled to do due diligence.

The options for American retirees are most commonly within the United States, even as seniors express concern that immigration amnesty may present pressures on benefits already being cited as too expensive with growing costs a time when the nation continues to struggle with its long-range financial future with an aging population

Minimum wage raises will increase income gap and poverty for seniors

Loaves and fishes (Forsloff photo) where low income seniors receive help with food.[/caption]

Carol Forsloff---- "The average gross monthly Social Security benefit in 2014, before Medicare deductions, for retirees of all ages and earnings levels, will be $1,294 for a single and $2,111 for a couple, the Social Security Administration estimates,"Forbes wrote October 30, 2013.  According to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College about one-third of household retirees live on nothing other than Social Security.  Among those with low incomes, 75 percent live on Social Security alone.  The 2014 Social Security increase was 1.5%, making it a guarantee that seniors will fall further and further behind the income levels of all Americans, when the minimum wage is raised to just over $10/hour.

There has been a stringent plan to save on the costs of Social Security and Medicare, with percentage increases either not occurring or very low in the past several years.  This means as incomes of workers rise, Social Security increases, limited as they are, more seniors will live in poverty, as they face paying the same bills as other groups, and more considering the high cost of medical care.

Following the Chained CPI, which is the present plan of determining increases for Social Security retirees, is a guarantee, experts say, that seniors will fall further and further behind.

As the nation worries over disparities between rich and poor, the truth is hidden in the hue and cry about the terrible gaps that exist at the low and high income levels.  Yet there is no plan to protect those groups who are not in the workforce and who are no longer able to work because of age-related disabilities and other factors.  And to add insult to injury, seniors are generally given part-time hours and the minimum pay when they do work.  Often that insult is multiplied by asking seniors to just volunteer, often in the same kind of jobs they left when they retired.

While people celebrate the solution of the workforce in raising the minimum wage, the balance will still not be reached and large swaths of people will be left out at the bottom.  What is not being underlined is that by not taxing the rich, and raising the minimum wage, there continues to be a tendency not to solve the problem at its source, which is in asking the rich to pay their fair share of taxes, so that all boats can rise and be able to pay their bills.  It will guarantee more seniors will live in poverty, if the solution is just to raise the minimum wage of the working class.

Progressives declare Social Security benefits should be increased to help the most vulnerable

Senior citizen center in Beaverton, Oregon

Marsha Hunt---As the debate on the budget is heating up for the coming months, there is a move by many in Congress not to cut Social Security but expand benefits. This would mean an increase in benefits of about $70 for each retiree and removing the income cap on wage-earners contributions.

While the Republicans in Congress have clamored for reductions in Social Security benefits, and Obama has appeared to agree to much of this; many legislators are concerned about their constituents and the increased medical costs and cost of living increases that have taken place, as seniors fall further and further behind in being able to keep up with the increasing pressures on income.

Every year Social Security proclaims its solvency, as the naysayers seem to look past the statistics from the offices and instead proclaim the need to reduce costs. At the same time, seniors have been rallied by AARP and MoveOn to support an increase in benefits.

Paul Krugman, one of the nation's leading economists, maintains Social Security benefits should be increased. He has examined the claims from conservatives that there should be entitlement reforms that include cuts to Social Security. He tells us, however, as a reminder that these are not entitlements in the same way as other programs, and points to the fact that America's retirement systems are failing, leaving many seniors with increasingly reduced pensions. Cuts to Social Security would mean hardship for many people.

National Council of Women's Organizations , Center for Community Change (October 2013) offers five key policy changes it says will preserve the Social Security system and help to ensure that it functions well enough to help needy individuals that include women, same-sex spouses, and low-income people.

These policy changes include caregiver credits for those who provide unpaid care for people in need and therefore lose part of their potential earnings as a result. It also includes restoration of student assistance, ensures benefits meet the needs of seniors and their spending habits, increases the special minimum benefit and ensure coverage for LGBT families.

These options, and the need to increase benefits for seniors, reflect an aging population's view of what is actually occurring in terms of the future of those whose earning years have ended and who rely upon the money they contributed to a government program they hope will remain throughout their senior years.

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Marsha Hunt is a youthful senior who worries about Social Security and believes it needs to be there to help people make it through their post-employment years.

The old and the young in America seem to be suffering the most

[caption id="attachment_5928" align="alignleft" width="300"] Loaves and fishes (Forsloff photo)[/caption]

Gordon Matilla---Headstart this year has received its largest cut in funding since the program began.   In the meantime, Medicaid, which serves seniors and persons with disabilities the most, and special meal and transportation programs are also having trouble because of funding cuts.  The old and the young in America seem to be suffering more than other groups.

Cuts to Headstart have been about $400 million this year.  This means many poor preschool children will not be receiving the educational assistance that prepares them for school.

Cuts to Medicaid have been part of state budget cuts, while the Republican legislators in Washington have proposed cuts to Medicare and Social Security.  These programs serve individuals over the age of 65, even as many lost retirement income and some their homes during the past recession, making financial hardships for many.

The GOP is seeking to cut school lunch programs.  These lunch programs serve many children who are poor and who often lack balanced, nutritious meals.   Already there have been reductions in funding.

As the housing market heats up, many rentals and homes for sale are going beyond the seniors’ budgets.  Retirement facilities that have independent living through assistance programs are not always adequate in terms of nutrition, exercise, mental and emotional stimulation, even as the price keeps going up as the population increases with waiting lists for some of the better programs.  They too find budgetary problems get in the way of providing services.

It’s not a good time to be a child or a senior citizen in America especially if you are poor.

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Gordon Matilla is a full-time English teacher who also has taught journalism and likes to write on social issues.

Rep. Fleming at fault if La. man doesn't get Soc. Security

[caption id="attachment_7296" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Representative John Fleming of Louisiana"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff - Robert Jordan is one among millions of senior citizens who could be impacted by a government default, and he points the finger of blame where many are sending it these days: straight to the right flank of the Republican Party.

Jordan works part-time for the Veterans Administration as a mental health counselor.  He is retired in Louisiana and supplements his income, as many seniors do, with part-time work.  Still Social Security income is part of that retirement plan, that promise he and other seniors were given for income after a lifetime of earnings contributions.  Now it hangs in the balance if Congress does not pass the budget.  He says he will blame Representative John Fleming of Louisiana, one of the House Republicans considered on the right wing of the plank.  Fleming has been  on Fox News discussing his position which is in line with the newest members of Congress, for no new taxes yet massive cuts in spending for programs like Medicare and Social Security.  Fleming is also on record against the health care programs and at one time agreed with someone at a forum in Natchitoches, Louisiana that the nation reconsider federal banking, something that was part of the civil war agenda.

Most Americans agree with Jordan, that it is the Republicans who are taking the most extreme position by listening to their most rightward flank.  These are the 80+ freshman class, many supported by the Tea Party, who took a pledge not to raise taxes for whatever reason.  This means no negotiation.  No negotiation, experts tell us, means a budget impasse and a debt crisis in less than a week.

Jordan is one of the lucky ones, however.  For 26% of senior Americans Social Security is their only source of income, according to the Council on Aging.  Then there is the ugly spectacle of seniors unable to get medical care during an economic catastrophe, as they may not have the means to pay for it.  While many seniors have already been impoverished in the downturn of the recession, they face even more devastation financially from the possibility of losing Social Security and Medicare at a time when they are most vulnerable.

As some people say, it is playing chicken with the ones who can’t get in the game at all because they no longer have the ability or the social recognition to play as well.

The media present the politicians point of view, but few ask those seniors how bad it is for them now and how much worse it can be.  Jordan sent the media an email, as the impetus for this article.

As for the blame?  Jordan has followed through with President Obama’s request.  He has pointed the finger at his Representative,  John Fleming, a man who ran against Obama even though he was only running for the House of Representatives and whose word for social support systems is “socialism,” a term used frequently by the right-wing plank of the Republican party.

What Jordan hopes, and millions of others of his certain age do too, is that Congressional members will put their ideological views on hold in favor of what surveys of Americans want now:  raise the debt ceiling so seniors don’t suffer more.

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This article is in response to a letter from a reader, as this site has no specific political category but addresses the issues.  Jordan is concerned about an issue that faces the country, specifically senior Americans, and like millions of seniors asks for a voice in the debate.  This article is in recognition of that voice to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a crisis.

The aging of the population and how it will change the world

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Carol Forsloff - In January 2011 the oldest of the baby boomers turned 65, with the first “shot over the cannon’ signaling a major shift in population that impacts the entire world,  while the US government labors over the budget crisis.

Early this year Richard Johnson of the Urban Institute answered five questions about aging and its impact on the future of the United States and the rest of the world.   He tells us at the outset that the problems of the growing numbers of elderly persons is a global problem.

13 percent of Americans are age 65 and over by January of 2011, with the percentage anticipated to be 16 percent by 2020 and by 2040 to 20 percent.  In the meantime birth rates are falling.

This means fewer young people to economically support in some way a larger and continually growing older segment of society.

.By 2020, that share will jump to just over 16 percent. By 2040, it'll top 20 percent. The graying of the population is really a worldwide phenomenon as birth rates fall and longevity increases.

Those who follow the Ayn Rand philosophy maintain that as long as producers are allowed total freedom of production free of government restraints, then social upheavals will be prevented as people seek prosperity.  Those who believe government should step in and take care of people who can’t take care of themselves represent another major philosophy, in opposition to the first.  These two extremes remain the ongoing debate in the major countries of the world, with the labels for representative factions changing as the politicians shift with popular opinions during economic crises.

The first world impact of aging has to do with how choices have to be made among groups needing assistance vs. the needs of the greater culture as a whole.  Infrastructure maintenance, education, energy and defense form a rival with what some refer to as entitlements.  The problem with the word entitlements itself has to do with it means to their beneficiaries, some of whom see Medicare and Social Security as funds maintained by those beneficiary contributions.  It was anticipated that when retirees reached age 65 there would be sufficient money to pay out those benefits.  That was the case in theory when the institutions were created.  The problem, however, is that by 2015 the system will be paying out more money than it takes in.  Furthermore it is estimated that by 2040 as much as 9/10 of the Federal budget will consist of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid payouts.

At the same time by 2030 it is estimated the elderly will pay ¼ of their incomes on health care costs.

Johnson believes we need to make it easier for older workers to be employed by taking away the taxes on incomes of people who continue to work after age 62 and the artificial ceiling for retirement at age 65 created by the culture.  He believes the elderly have information and skills society needs, and that more members of that group should be employed.  He calls for training for older people, along with raising the Social Security retirement age.

But while Congress continues to debate raising the Social Security retirement age, Johnson also recommends that people delay taking the benefits themselves in order to increase the payouts that will continue to grow with the additional months and years.  He also observes that people should educate themselves about financial products and save for retirement.

The problems of long-term care and how to finance it are major obstacles for seniors all over the world, Johnson explains, although he has no real answers for the problem outside of additional savings along with research studies on patterns of saving of present pre-retirement groups.

In his discussion Johnson doesn’t examine the unpredictability of economic trends that impact senior incomes, just as government begins to decide on debt limits and entitlement adjustments.

In Portland, Oregon Christopher D. Werner offers financial direction and investment products through his company the Werner Group.  He agrees, “We have to be defensive when we know some of our clients are seniors.  What is recommended for older folks in the investment mix will be somewhat different, of course.  On the other hand, I won’t advise someone at any age be involved in an investment vehicle I wouldn’t have for myself.  You have to look at how investment managers have performed over time.

As for the future, yes we can’t predict it.  We can only give our best answer based upon our knowledge of specifics now.  Saving is fundamental to getting to a safe retirement, and cash isn’t the only option.”

Chris Werner, a 30+, energetic man looks at the cup half full, as his life in most ways is beginning, with a future in the financial world.  His view continues to include the tried and true recommendations of balance, growth and saving.

It is, however, for Werner and for Johnson, as it is for seniors who did plan and save, the unknown face of the budget crisis aftermath that offers the greatest concern for elderly and for which there seem to be no good answers.  And while working longer may seem the easy answer, seniors continue to be the most vulnerable group to layoffs and unemployment, making it difficult, if not impossible, for those younger baby boomers to plan at all.

Debt crisis insight from the 'Art of Selfishness'

[caption id="attachment_7095" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="John Galt Sign"][/caption]

Carol Forsloff  -  The organization devoted to Ayn Rand’s philosophy addresses the current budget crisis as caused by  those who seek handouts and who should be ashamed of their contribution to the collapse of industrial America by taking from productive members of the culture,

The diatribe against those takers of personal freedom begins with the view taken in Atlas Shrugged, which was the Ayn Rand tome that became the Bible of the Art of Selfishness, which was the orientation and philosophy of the author and her devotees.

The press release reminds us of the prophetic nature of Atlas Shrugged,  that “ portrays the collapse of industrial America as a war between producers and expropriators—just what we see in America today.

"To solve the debt crisis, productive Americans must declare to every elected official that they have a right to their own lives and the fruits of their labor; that government has no right to redistribute their wealth; and that other Americans should be ashamed of themselves for trying to steal it," says Edward Hudgins of The Atlas Society www.atlassociety.org .  "Productive individuals would reject government handouts and thus governments would not run up debts that will destroy the productive."

After pointing out the philosophy according to Rand with respect to producers and those seeking handouts, the Rand view is described as one that encourages producers to seek happiness and prosperity by the creation of goods and services.  These same producers seek justice and protection but otherwise want to be left alone to earn a living.  Those who wish to expropriate from them by government means are working against what is best for society, and now those productive people have awakened to what is called a “moral obscenity” inflicted upon them.

In other words, no bailout, no debt ceiling, no compromise.  Producers are the capitalists who create the value  and “paternalistic politicians” are involved in taking from them through bailouts and free healthcare and stimulus money.  What are these handouts?  Student loans, expanded health care and Social Security, the Ayn Rand group explains.

Rand belief is based on the notion that “your highest moral purpose is the achievement of your own happiness”  Altruism is a word and idea she decries, as the true purpose is not to save others but to maintain one’s own well being and that if everyone sought this same direction, then there would be no need for saving anyone.

As the two political parties struggle over the mounting debt crisis and decide whether or not to raise the debt ceiling, it is important to recognize that many of those leaders were educated in their early years during a popular wave of Ayn Rand materials.  Those who favor the Ayn Rand direction in politics promote capitalism, production and individualism.  They see Social Security, welfare and other programs designed to help the elderly and handicapped as unnecessary in a productive society where people seek to create material wealth.  It is that art of selfishness that is echoed in the halls of the Congress by those who believe that wealth will “trickle down” in some unique way so that everyone benefits from those who prosper.

A similar doctrine to Ayn Rand is this:  “We believe most Americans do not want out-of-control spending in Washington, bailouts, government controls of private businesses, socializing of Americans' health care and other non-essential government-run services,” the signature statement from the Tea Party organization.