That would defeat the purpose of SS. And that purpose is to keep the Elderly dependent on government for their support. If the elderly are dependent on government, then the politicians have an instant scare tactic to get the most voters voting for them.
Actually, it's to let people retire with dignity and not become a burden on everyone else. Sorry, the Smoking Man is not in this one.
How exactly is society giving them a pittance not burdening everyone else?
Our government is supposed to go bankrupt to give the Elderly next to nothing. But that's not a burden?
People shouldn't be retiring from life. We should be moving from stage to stage. God didn't say 6 days you should work and rest on the 7th until you reach the age of 65. Then just sit around and let someone else support you.
Elderly people aren't worthless. Stop treating them like they have no value. And stop trying to make them dependent on politicians to survive. Stop trying to scare them.
When are the Elderly of the nation going to stop letting government abuse them like they do?
Once I had a SS recipient work for me, he described himself as "Semi-retired." His benefit was more than $1000 a month. Is that "Next to nothing?" Now, the man was former military and then a truck driver for many years. He'd been paying in his whole working life, and now he'd reached the time to collect.
Ol' Albert wasn't in the greatest health. He had a bad leg. He wasn't the kind of fast mover we depend on. He probably wouldn't ever have applied for such a position, but he was a friend of the landlord and he was interested in what we were doing there. I think he asked for the job as much for something to do as anything else. I couldn't afford to pay him much, since there's a lot he couldn't do; But boy was he thrilled to come in and sweep and mop, run the cage washer, change trash can liners, and wipe down countertops and tables for 9 bucks an hour.
There's an example of SS working. Albert was in his 70s. House was paid for. Drove an old truck which was fine with him. Widowed. If he didn't work at all, he probably could have paid all his bills and groceries with SS. Don't know if he had private savings or not. Assuming he didn't, the $200-$250 a week he made with me could be the reason he bought a new truck, could be money to take his grandkids out to dinner, whatever he chose to do with it. When work became too much, he could scale it back or cut it out entirely, without the fear that he'd be left with zero income and have to mooch off his family.
The purpose of raising the age is to make sure that safety cushion can continue to exist for people in their declining years. Doesn't mean they hafta retire, but particularly in physical jobs like the ones I have to offer, your earning power declines in these years. I know you feel everyone should have their own savings, but sometimes they don't, whether it's due to illness, injury, plain old irresponsibility or any other reason. When a person reaches 70 and has nothing, his family has nothing, and he can't work, what do you propose we do with this person?