By Roy Ortega
I am heartsick watching my fellow retirees facing this awful, cataclysmic, life-changing period of our history. Trump is killing us. I don't mean that rhetorically. I mean it literally.
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| Social Security at Risk |
As a Baby Boomer I am reminded of the sacrifices made by my parent's generation to defeat a soulless, hateful demagogue named Adolph Hitler.
I am shocked, sick, tired and fed up with the rise of still another evil dictatorship. This time, it is happening in our lifetime and in our own country, no less.
If you can't see the close parallels between 1930s Germany and today's Trump world, you weren't paying attention in history class.
Prior to WWII, Hitler set out to rid society of those whom he deemed useless and an unnecessary burden on the country's economy. It included all racial and ethnic minorities, the physically disabled, the mentally incapacitated and, to no one's surprise, the elder population.
Unless Americans rise quickly against Trump's tyranny, many American senior citizens will find themselves homeless, destitute and without medical resources. No Medicare, no Medicaid, and worse, no Social Security. This isn't alarmist thinking. It is a reality we are facing at this moment. It stands to reason that without these critical resources, almost all earned over a lifetime, scores of American senior citizens will be left to fend for themselves. Many will die penniless and alone. If this doesn't sound like Hitler Germany to you, you are not human.
Our Story
By the time Jo Anne and I retired in 2017, we had spent the previous decade planning the path we would take to ensure a smooth transition into our golden years. But it wasn't easy. Stashing money into our retirement accounts was difficult as we both worked to build our careers and raise three sons, all the while paying a mortgage, credit cards, car payments and utilities. Our modest incomes never allowed us to splurge on vacations or fun-filled diversions of any kind, but we still managed to take the boys on yearly Spring Break jaunts to such "exotic" places like the Grand Canyon, the Gulf Coast and even Las Vegas.
The worst financial hit we ever took was following the 2008 recession when we saw my 401k account
diminish in value by 40-percent. Republican President George W. Bush's economic policies created a nightmare scenario that left many of us wondering if we would ever be able to retire comfortably. My 401k had been humming along quite nicely until the 2008 recession hit. The impact was followed by a job loss and near financial ruin - two topics I'd rather not remember much less talk about.
But we didn't panic. We were still 10-years away from retirement and figured we had plenty of time to recover. It took eight years to recoup the losses from our retirement fund. Somehow, we managed to recover well enough to retire comfortably in 2017.
Big Trouble Ahead
Today's retiring class will not likely be so lucky, if you can call it that. As of this writing, 401k savings are diminishing by double-digit levels every day with little or no prospect of recovery any time soon.
The deliberate trashing of our economy at the hands of a corrupt, ignorant and morally bankrupt president combined with his effort to eliminate all social programs will surely destroy what little we have left to support ourselves in our waning years. Everything we own and worked so hard to build over a lifetime is now in jeopardy. There is no rational explanation for any of this. None.
Only the whims and prejudices of one man. ONE MAN.
Roy Ortega may be reached at rortega54@elp.rr.com. All comments will be read.
Useful links:
Four Threats To Social Security From Trump Policies
Social Security Checks In Danger? What To Do | Investor's Business Daily
