Labor & Employment Law

?Can You Imagine Working Until 70?? Congressional Republicans Think That?s OK

By Tula Connell

Republican Rep. John Boehner from Ohio says if his party took over Congress in the fall elections, it would raise the Social Security eligibility age to 70. Sharron Angle, Republican candidate for Senate in Nevada, said Social Security should be phased out. 

As Social Security turned 75 in recent days, the nation’s most successful safety net is under attack as never before. 

Writing at Huffington Post, Barbara Easterling, president of the Alliance for Retired Americans, asks: “Can you imagine working until 70?”

In jobs like construction, manufacturing, and the service sector, I just don’t see how you can. A study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research showed that 45 percent of workers age 58 to 69 are in physically demanding jobs. And in a tough labor market, who would hire someone in their late 60s?

In fact, without Social Security, 19.8 million more Americans would be poor, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Without Social Security, 45.2 percent of older Americans would have incomes below the poverty line. With Social Security, only 9.7 are poor. CBPP’s Paul Van de Water and Arloc Sherman reminds us that Social Security isn’t only for retired folks:

Social Security lifts more than 1 million children out of poverty.

More children and elderly living in poverty doesn’t seem to bother the likes of Boehner. He’s too busy playing golf at the ritzy clubs he belongs to when he’s not relaxing in his gated community.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on August 16, 2010 (boomark / email).