“The culprits are vanishing pensions, soaring healthcare costs and tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid student loans for themselves, their children and even their grandchildren.”
I was fortunate to grow up in a town that had a state college with no tuition. I was able to pay my college expenses by working part time at a grocery store. Initially I lived in a one room “apartment” in an old house. Later a friend and I rented a small, rundown house near the campus. My wife had a small (by today’s standards) student loan when we married. She paid it off during the two years that she taught school. Our daughter attended a state university with a good reputation in her field (accounting) but a modest tuition. I was able to pay her expenses out of my salary.
In my opinion during recent years too many students attend schools neither they or their parents can afford. Federal student loans are readily available which has escalated the cost of higher education. Many students attend college for social reasons instead of employment potential and graduate with unmarketable degrees.
“Seniors are living longer and paying ever higher medical costs for the privilege of staying alive; many have little or no company pension and scant personal savings to fall back on.”
“As these low- to middle-income families age, many are being pitched into debt-burdened retirement by several structural trends, including the decline of trade unions, with their power to negotiate real wage increases, good pensions and retiree healthcare packages; the disappearance of defined benefit pension schemes; steep healthcare inflation; and a sharp rise in middle-class families helping to pay for children to go to college.”
I joined the military shortly after receiving my degree in engineering. After ten years I realized I didn’t like what I was doing nor where I was doing it so I resigned with no accumulated benefits. However, during my service I was able to start a family and save enough for a down payment on a house. My next employment was as an engineer working for the Civil Service. I enjoyed my job but after three years I was notified that my work would be contracted out to a defense corporation. So I left civil service — once again with no benefits — and went to work for the defense corporation that had a pension plan and a stock savings plan. After almost two decades my wife decided that we should live near our daughter and her husband so I retired. I was able to continue my company healthcare plan but my company contribution toward the premium decreased from 80% to 20%. My cost was $600 per month total for myself and my wife which increased to $700 per month at the end of the year. I began working a minimum wage (only thing I could find) job to pay my insurance premiums. The next year my insurance premium increased to $850 per month so I got a job with Civil Service and used their medical benefits. After five years I retired with a pension that exceeded the cost of the medical benefits. When my wife and I became covered by Medicare I continued our Civil Service medical coverage as secondary coverage. Since then my wife has experienced several significant medical issues but my out of pocket costs have been limited to prescription copays.
Instead of looking to federally funded Medicare for All and Universal Basic Income I think the electorate should increase emphasis on expanding unions to negotiate improved employee benefits with max-profit motivated corporations. Large unions could even compete with insurance companies to provide employee health care programs.
