Green Retirement

Their have been a lot of retirement propaganda stories in recent years, exhorting the virtues of working past one’s retirement age, such as this recent BusinessWeek story.  The stories that appear in newspapers, magazines, and on t.v., usually have a similar theme.  “Betty retired when she was 55, but quickly got bored, and is happily back working stuffing groceries into paper bags at a local supermarket.”

Hidden within the anecdotes of smiling octogenarians wearing blue vests greeting shoppers, are statistics that tell a different story, and one can usually find an example of a wage slave senior who wishes they could be retired.  A recent story titled “More Californians working later in life, especially women” which appeared in the San Jose Mercury News and written by Jondi Gumz, is a perfect example of retirement propaganda.

The article starts with a short story about how “Margaret Kinda retired after 25 years as a family law attorney in Aptos, she spent time gardening and going to yoga retreats.  But she got bored and decided to return to the workplace in December… At 58, she’s among the growing number of California women who are working later in life. That’s one of the findings of a new study released Monday by the California Budget Project.”

What’s the finding? That people who retire get bored and go back to work or is it that people are working later in life than they used to?  The latter silly, but how the article begins, would lead you to believe that the reason people are working later in life is out of choice and not necessity.  The next two paragraphs give the numbers: “Last year 63 percent of people age 55 to 64 were employed. In the two decades before that, the percentage hovered around 54 percent.”  And, “Older people, 65 to 69, are still working, 29.7 percent last year, compared to 22 percent in 2000.”

Thirty percent of Americans who are entitled to receive full retirement and health care benefits are still working, a 7% increase since 2000, apparently their is an epidemic of boredom among American seniors.  Buried down near the bottom of the article, we learn the primary reason why so many more older Americans are working, they can’t afford to retire.  We are introduced to Sally French and Nancy Macy.

“Being single, with one income, retirement is a stretch,” French said. “With my retirement plan losing so much, I will probably work for several more years than I had originally planned on.”Nancy Macy, 62, of Boulder Creek, said her husband took early retirement from Hewlett-Packard and now works part time. So her pay from part-time work at the Valley Women’s Club recycling center is important.

Macy pointed out that not only do people over 55 need to rebuild retirement savings reduced by the downturn, they may face financial demands from children, grandchildren and elder parents.

The California Budget Project claims to be a non-partisan policy organization, dedicated to helping the lives of low and moderate income Californians, however their gleeful spin on a set of depressing statistics suggests otherwise.  In reality, the story appears to be yet another retirement propaganda piece, aimed at keeping people working.

The retirement propaganda became too much for Jason Linkins a blogger at the HuffingtonPost, who was taken aback by a story he saw on CNN which suggested that an 84 year old waitress named Mildred does not have it so bad because she does not have a mortgage.  Jason wrote a very strong blogpost in response titled “CNN Says 84-Year-Old Woman Fortunate To Be Waiting Tables” Read the full Article.
Who are the various interest groups who want to keep Americans working and what are their agendas?

The truth is that Washington, Wall Street, and Corporations do not want Mildred, Sally, Nancy or any other working American to retire. The reasons are obvious, if you take a moment to think about it, and the MSM is simply used to further their agendas.

Washington - If Mildred retires, she will stop contributing to Social Security and Medicare, and begin receiving benefits costing the government money.

Wall Street - If Mildred retires, she will stop contributing to 401k’s and mutual funds, and begin drawing down her retirement accounts costing Wall Street Commissions and fees.

Corporations - Keeping Mildred working keeps wages low. If Mildred retires, they will be forced to pay higher wages, which will cost them profits.

I recently published a short book on Amazon Kindle titled “Million Dollar Difference: The Wall Street Wage Slave Formula That Keeps You Working” You can read it here for free: Wage Slave Formula

The truth is that Mildred, and every other working American, needs much less savings to retire than they are being told by Wall Street. You can find out how much savings you really need to retire by trying the Free Green Retirement Calculator.

You see the photo at the top of this retirement blog article?  That is a photo of 71 year old Carolyn, receiving the “Older Worker of the Year Award” at an event that “celebrates” the contributions of older workers,  sponsored by The Georgia Department of Human Resources Division of Aging Services, the Department of Labor, and other organizations serving (profiting from) older workers.  Try the Free Green Retirement Calculator.