Now we can rejoin history and mankind

This year marks 40 consecutive years of full time work during my life. Some would say this is too long but by historical standards it is quite normal, if one even lived that long. I have always planned on working full time as long as I could and then working part time until it became impossible to work.

Each of my employers over the past 40 years freely offered a modest pension as part of my employment compensation. No one held a gun to their head to demand a pension. Employers promised a future pension in lieu of pay for work done each day. Lately, most employers have abandoned pensions in favor of 401k retirement plans (aka gambling).

The government demanded that I pay social security taxes on my current employment compensation with the implicit promise that I would be eligible for future benefits. Most people considered social security as a type of forced saving for retirement. I always viewed social security as just another tax and a pig in a poke.

Me and my age cohort considered pensions, social security and savings as our means of support in old age. We had faith that employers and the government would fulfill the promises that they made while 401k fund managers and bankers would refrain from drunken gambling.

During the past year one of my former employers reneged on their pension obligation to salaried employees and another will probably follow suit in the near future. The obligation was handed to the federal PBGC which is already underfunded and likely to collapse without subsidies. I'll consider myself lucky if I get even a third of the pension benefit that I earned from two employers.

Meanwhile my 401k investments have lost 40% of their value and will probably never recover from these losses. 401k fund managers and bankers got their fat commissions and bonuses as they recklessly gambled my investments away. Mark off another third of old age income that I counted on.

Now the government reports that an increase in early retirements is straining an already overburdened social security system that is forecast to go belly up in 2037. The government will have to cut social security benefits or raise social security taxes and retirement age. Probably all three options . It appears that the government will break their promise of benefits to one of the most vulnerable groups of the population.

Raising social security taxes will remove disposable income from an already fragile consumer economy. This will result in additional job losses for older workers who would have to abandon retirement plans to meet older social security minimum age requirements. Many employers consider applicants too old in their 50s let alone 60 or 70.

Even as the social contracts of pensions, employment, investments and social security fall apart our congress and president decide that we need to add the promise of health care for everyone as they save the planet from the basic building block of carbon.

Such arrogance and gall.

The success that America achieved was due in large part because we were a high trust society. A man could have faith that responsible, God fearing men would keep their promises and protect the lives, property and rights of his fellows.

What differentiated Mexico from America? Both places had abundant resources yet one thrived while the other merely survived. Trust enables building a vibrant society while mistrust saps away vigor.

The self-induced economic bubble, subsequent economic collapse in 2008 and the lies and manipulation by national leadership in 2009 has resulted in the loss of trust in our society. Here and there you will still find isolated trust but by and large it has evaporated. With the loss of trust American exceptionalism is dead. Now we can rejoin history and mankind.