The Southland advocate., 1950-04-15
Rx MILLNoRD I. KING

congressman of both parties
stress the necessity of extending
social security - of protecting
the aged. If they really wish to
accomplish this end, what meas
ures ought they take to reach this
announced goal? Should they plan
TO have the worker retire at 65,
and. thereafter, draw a pension
either from the Federal Govern
ment or from some of his various
previous employers? If industry is
expected to bear the burden, just
which employer should pay the
pension money? Why?
Wherever we work, most Of us
are currently paid all that our
services are worth. If 1 save moth
ing for my old age, do the tax
payers owe me a living just be-
cause 1 have spent all that 1 have
earned in my first 65 years? Will
be happy if I am turned out
of my job at 65 .and told that,
hereafter, it is not fitting for me
to earn any income, since Uncle
Sam has arranged matters so that
my wife and I can Tive the life
of Riley" on a munfficent 500 a
month pension The Government,
in its IiberaTity, Will, however,
graciously allow me to avoid en-
nui by puttering around the gar
den, boondOggIing, or engaging in
sNch other activities as my $160
will permft-provided that 1 am
careful to accomplish nothing
worthwhile.
In those horse and buggy
days before the New Deal picked
the lump of labor" fallacy out
of the discard and dressed 1t up
as a respectable economic theory,
people generally considered labor
and thrift to be virtues. It was
taken for granted that a man
should work as long: as he was
abie,. and, while en- mployedr would
lay something by to provide for
sickness and declining years.. The
best that the loafeF and spend
thrift could expect in his old age
was the poorhouse:
During the last century, capital
accumulated by the thrifty, COUP
led with the genius of great in
ventors, more than quadrupled the
hourly earnings of the average
worker. Hence, it is possible for
today's worker to- save half his
earnings and still live far more
comfortably than did his great
grandfather. Furthermore; medical
science and better food have
greatly improved his health. Elec-
tricity does most of the hard work.
Therefore, to hold down a full
time job is probably as easy for
the average man of 70 today, as
it was for the average man of 60
half a century ago!
Because people are so much
healthier, they are living longer;
hence, the proportion of the pop
ulation consisting of persons over
65 is increasing rapidly. In view
of all these circumstances; is it not
obvious that to dismiss at 65 those
workers who have not accumulated
means sufficient to support them
III OOIllIOII 10 oil
Getting old ought not to be re-
garded as a crime. which merits
severe punishme Social action
should be directed towards keep
ing oldsters happy not towards
making them miserable. How can
the former best be done?
The longtime answer is that
every employed person should be
required by law to take out, with
the standard private insurance
company of his choice, a policy
providing at least minimum sup
port for himself and family when
ever he becomes disabled by old
age, by accident, or by sickness.
If, as he ages, mans earnings
shrink 1919, he should receive
1870 of his full disability pension
if, later his earnings are halNed.
he should receive 5000 of his PEN
sion; if he becomes three-quarters
disabled. he should get 1870; and
so on. To thus pension a man
adequately on the basis of per-
centage of disability would, on the
average, probably cost less than
to give him a 'measly" subsistence
pension from age IS on.
AS that great elder statesman,
Bernard Baruch, emphasized in a
recently quoted interview, what
the nation should plan for today
is how to keep our oTdsters pro-
lducing, earning good incomes, and
enjoying 1ife-not how to sentence
them to miserable existence of
penury. idleness, or boondoggling.
He also rightly stressed the point
that all pension systems will be
failures unless the purchasing
power of the dollar is carefully
proteeted-in other words, unless
initiation is scrupulously avoided.
And the normal result of an un-
balanced budget is initiation ac-
companied by a deteriorating dol
lar. 1t follows that, whenever the
Federal Government spends more
than it takes in, the saftey of our
oldsters is gravely endangered.
Sound. long-run social policy
therefore requires that:
1. Every person employed or in
receipt of considerable income be
required to carry with a sound
private company adequate disabil-
ity insurance.
2. The Federal Government keep
it's budget balanced at all times.
thus avoiding initiation