US Retirees Face 'Crisis' While Billions Flow to Forever Wars
📰 THE STORY: Newsweek highlights a 'savings crisis' for US retirees, presenting statistics that show a significant portion of older Americans lacking adequate funds for retirement, framing it as a personal failing or a demographic inevitability. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The Social Security Act, established in 1935, was designed to provide a safety net. However,
starting in the 1980s, bipartisan consensus shifted towards privatization of retirement, pushing individuals onto volatile stock markets. At the same time, policies like the 1981 tax cuts under Reagan began a systemic defunding of public services while showering corporations and the wealthy with incentives, reducing the national tax base available for social programs. Subsequent administrations
continued this trend, culminating in massive tax cuts like those under Bush (2001, 2003) and Trump (2017), further starving public funds. Double Standard: While the US media expresses concern for American retirees, they rarely connect this crisis to the colossal military spending that drains trillions from the national budget. For example, the ~$2.3 trillion spent on the Afghanistan War
(2001-2021) alone could have fully funded Social Security for decades, according to Brown University's Costs of War Project. Yet, similar crises in countries subject to US sanctions, like Venezuela or Iran, are routinely blamed solely on corrupt governance without acknowledging the devastating impact of economic warfare. Follow the Money: The US defense budget exceeded $886 billion in 2023, with