The New Normal: Seniors Without Political Clout

I used to think that seniors had political clout. Do you remember years ago when irate seniors chased House Ways and Means Chairman Dan Rostenkowski down the street waving their canes protesting the change in Medicare that extended the program's coverage? Congress subsequently repealed the law, bowing to the political hammer of seniors.

That was then.

Things are very different now. Seniors have lost their political clout. Here’s some examples.

In Obamacare, around $700 million will be transferred out of Medicare to support health care coverage for those under 65. This happened without a peep from seniors; in fact their biggest lobbyist, AARP, supported the transfer wholeheartedly, abandoning the majority of their constituency. (I quit AARP in protest and have never returned.)

Seniors have been eviscerated by the 2008 financial crisis and its aftermath. Only a short time ago, seniors could get a return of 5% on their bank Certificates of Deposit. In many cases, this was a big part of their disposable income. Today, thanks to the Federal Reserve, the average yield on a 1 year CD is less than 1%. Many seniors have been forced to drastically reduce their quality of life because of this manufactured low interest rate environment.

For the last 3 years, Social Security recipients received only one cost of living adjustment: 3.6% this year. For the prior 2 years, the COLA was zero. The formula for adjusting these benefits concluded that there was no inflation for two years, but did the real estate taxes that seniors pay go down? Not likely. In my case, my real estate taxes went up at an average rate of 4.5% a year. Also, in Illinois where I live, our income tax went up 67% last year, another example of seniors with zero clout.

At the same time, as the financial meltdown occurred, whatever savings many seniors had for retirement were dramatically reduced. If they were savvy enough and had the fortitude to ride out the near 40% collapse in the stock market in 2009, then they’re close to even today as the market has rebounded. But many seniors panicked and sold at the market lows and now they have to return to the workforce (if they can find a job) to earn enough money to live on. Many seniors are saying goodbye to retirement.

I don’t think it’s the seniors’ fault that many of them are in desperate financial condition; they were certainly dealt disastrous hands by both the recent fiscal crisis and the Obama administration’s response to it, but in my view the fairy tale that seniors wield inordinate political power has come to an abrupt end. 

                                                This particular senior, in retirement.

From Aix to the Sea

In the winter of 1967-68, I was hitchhiking around Europe with Rick, a friend and fellow student hailing from San Jose, California. It was Christmas break from the Universite de Nice in France (where I was spending my Junior Year Abroad) and Rick and I were on our grand holiday from the Mediterranean to Grenoble (where the Winter Olympics were soon to be held) to Switzerland, Munich, Salzburg and Innsbruck, Austria. From here, Rick went back to Nice and I went on to Paris by myself. After several days there, I hit the road back to the Mediterranean with a girl from Milwaukee that I’d met in Paris. Those were formative years for me and my whole outlook on life changed dramatically because of the experiences I had and the people I met on that great European adventure.

On January 16, 1968, my diary reads as follows.

“Today was just about the greatest day of my life. I was never happier to see anything than I was today to see Nice.

We left Avignon very late and saw a few of the old ruins, including the Popes’ palace. Its a beautiful city just covered with history. We had terrible luck getting out, walking for miles till we got a short ride to Cavaillon, out in the middle of nowhere. We waited there quite awhile because somehow we had lost route #7. But we did get a ride finally to 7 and then one man going to Marseille went out of his way to take us to Aix-en-Provence (quite far out of his way, about 60 km to be exact). So we walked through the city (another long walk) and waited on the #7 again.

Somehow, out of the blue, a white Jaguar stopped, with an 06 (Nice Alpes-Maritimes) plate. Inside was a man who owned his own company and on his way to Nice and he told me he stopped only because I looked “tres sympathique”. I was never more glad that I smiled ever before in my life.

He took us all the way to Nice. He had a great personality and we had some good discussions on everything, mostly business and French politics. It was great talking with him and when we parted, real friends, he gave me his phone number and invited me fishing on his boat. Wow, that was great and it was also great to see some of my friends again, Sylvio and Christian, and to read my mail and find out that in some ways I’m important to other people. It’s a great feeling, believe me.

The people I met today included 3 girls at the hostel with a nice Spanish guitar, the hostel father who asked me to translate a Japanese game like chess into French (it was in English), a retired French mailman, the people who gave us rides, especially the last one (M. Guy Pilet). It’s just been formidable; really, really great.”

                                   Centre Universitaire Mediterranean, Nice,
                                   where I was a student in 1967-1968