Reply #6: The funny thing is that they are telling young people [View All]

that they will be impoverished by supporting their aging parents in their retirement. Bush's plan will put even more of the burden of supporting aging parents on individual children -- by putting pressure on kids to support their parents in their old age and by requiring the parents to spend down all their savings as they age and thus reducing and often eliminating any hope of an inheritance for today's young people.

The only winners in Bush's pension, Social Security, retirement and elderly policies are the wealthy who can live off their investments at virtually any age and successful owners of profitable business (the bigger the business the bigger the gain for the owners) whose pension and Social Security contributions and obligations the Bush administration is trying to reduce. The losers are the members of the younger generation who will be saddled with guilt if they don't provide for their parents and with a huge financial burden if they do provide.

A good solution: let's make it possible for seniors to work longer by enforcing decent work conditions and hours for people of all generations and severely punishing age discrimination in the workplace. How about damages of five times the actual wages lost for age discrimination plus attorney's fees for the worker who is discriminated against?

How about shifting the heaviest burden of proof to the employer to prove it terminated or did not hire the older worker based on age rather than imposing that burden on the employee.