We started Social Security so the elderly could live with some dignity and not go hungry or end up on the streets, and the program has worked great. The WWII generation and Boomers also came of age during a greatly expanding economy and wage gains that closely matched productivity gains, and housing was affordable, health insurance cheap, benefits at work good. Since Reagan, our nation shifted to a deficit-economy based upon borrowing and people who came of age since then have had student loans, consumer credit debt, higher prices, lower wages and fewer benefits, so it is surprise only that the gap is so damn huge - 47 times!
A lot grandparents, parents of the WWII and Boomer generations wonder why their kids can't "make it" the way they did: the opportunities are not there and the playing field has entirely changed - that's why ... just as the parents of Boomers and WWII era folks often ended up poor and destitute until we enacted Social Security it took a fundamental shift in our economy before opportunities were created and we're at that historic threshold again - if WWII and Boomer parents want to stop supporting their children and grandchildren, they need to push for policies that create opportunity for their offspring. Unfortunately many younger than 50 people are very cynical and do not participate in the political process in percentages anywhere near what more aged groups do.
Here's a plan: Lift the cap on what people earning over $106,000 pay into Social Security so they pay the same percentage as those who earn less do - this will raise around $700 billion per year, which would allow a DOUBLING of Social Security benefits so more Boomers can retire early and open up jobs for their children; Impose a millionaire's tax that makes the top 1% pay a 50% rate and raise the Capital Gains tax to 35% since most people with money make money off of money not through work (this could raise several hundred billion a year too); end Bush tax cuts for top earners - go back to Clinton rates or Reagan rates (raises another several hundred billion a year); institute a national healthcare system to compete with insurance industry to drive down prices overall (health care is 7% of the economy).
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