The Elderly Quotes
Commenting on the state of many nursing homes
18 years later, his son—George W. Bush—made the “nutty idea” one of the main planks in his Presidential legislative program. After the younger Bush traveled the country selling his reform ideas, the public came down on the side of his father and rejected the President’s “nutty idea.”
Social Security was part of FDR’s New Deal legislation. It was passed in the middle of the Great Depression in 1936. By the end of the 20th century many people had forgotten or never learned that Social Security was a government social program. It provided relieve for two of the biggest social problems—old age retirement and disability. Most people have no idea that they had disability insurance covered by Social Security throughout their working lives unless they happened to be disabled. The price of a comparable private disability plan would be substantial, yet it is a benefit that most people have and few know it.
This captures the essence of the Social Security System and similar old age support programs. In earlier and less developed societies, the cultural tradition was that the children had a responsibility to car for the elderly members of their families; in sophisticated societies, there is recognition that some younger people will not or cannot fill this responsibility and the system is institutionalized as Social Security of some variant thereof.
This statement was quoted over and over by his Presidential opponent, Lyndon Johnson in the campaign of 1964. Although, a wealthy person could on the average do a little better with a private investment of equivalent money and a disability insurance, those citizens of less wealth could not do so as easily. And few could obtain the disability and survivor benefits that comes along with Social Security. Goldwater wanted to make Social Security Voluntary, and most Americans thought the Goldwater prescription for Social Security would kill the program and did not support him. Conservatives have argued for this idea ever since, including Geirge W. Bush who made it a centerpiece of his administration’s program. It was rejected by the voters, and most of those were proven right when with the 2008 stocks had lost 50% of their value—the people who had retired and depended on their return from investments were mostly in terrible trouble. And of course, even in good times, some people who invest in the stock and bond markets do well and some do poorly. What would society do about those who lost most of their retirement. Let them starve because they invested badly?
