Retirement? Who Wants To Retire?

~or~ "Yet Another Bill Of Goods You've Been Sold By Pop Culture Morons"

When the Social Security Act was passed, 62 was astonishingly old. People dropped dead in their tracks at work from heart attacks at 57 and everybody was ok with that. You worked to support your family and you would be ashamed to take "charity" even from the government. Nobody (almost) collected Social Security benefits. The one guy that did, was, like, ancient and he died pretty quick anyway.

Then along came a longer life span, and people didn't like to vote for people who said "let's just keep this super-ancient people provision system solvent forever, and keep pushing back the Official Retirement Age." For whatever reasons, and I don't exclude mental laziness brought on by a lack of raw egg in the diet*, Social Security didn't keep up with the (longer life)times.

Now, people expect that they will be able to spend half their life working, and divide the other half between school and retirement. The benevolent "taxpayer" (the Forgotten Man) will take care of me! My standard of living should dam' well INCREASE after I stop making my own money! Well excuse me for noticing but

a) get the hell off my paycheck and
b) get a job, you hippie!

Blah blah all the cool stuff you can do in retirement. People's bodies run down and they die of age because you don't use your body enough in retirement. Your last year is your most expensive because you didn't WORK in the previous twenty! Keep working till you keel over instead of sucking on the public teat, and the medicare and social security budget woes suddenly disappear. Besides which you won't be bored. I plan to work until I can't, at which point I hope there will be the proper thing: care plans for people who can't work and jobs for those who can. Curbs for those who WON'T.

Ask me again in 40 years ;)

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*yes, raw egg. To be drunk from a glass with raw whole milk, while standing in the full blazing noonday frikken SUNSHINE. Fer crying out loud.