The retirement age increase proposed by the Commission is just a particularly cruel way of cutting benefits. The age at which the elderly can retire on full Social Security benefits is already increasing to 67 by 2027. The chairmen's plan would "index" the retirement age to increase in longevity, meaning it would hit 68 in about 2050 and 69 in about 2075.
New York Times opinion columnist Paul Krugman has pointed out, http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/unserious-people-2/ , that "the people who really depend on Social Security, those in the bottom half of the distribution, aren't living much longer. So you're going to tell janitors to work until they're 70 because lawyers are living longer than ever."
New York Times opinion columnist Paul Krugman has pointed out, http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/unserious-people-2/ , that "the people who really depend on Social Security, those in the bottom half of the distribution, aren't living much longer. So you're going to tell janitors to work until they're 70 because lawyers are living longer than ever."
Is this how a humane society proposes to care for its less fortunate? Not if the Gray Panthers have anything to say about it!
