The young people taking to the streets in France to protest future cuts in their government retirement got me thinking: Would my kids do the same thing over changes to their Social Security?
No, they wouldn't.
Social Security has a big bull's eye on it right now.
The government retirement benefits that their grandparents enjoyed and that their parents plan to enjoy, could be vastly different by the time the children of Baby Boomers get to retirement age.
The issue in France is like it is around the world. Governments are going bankrupt. One major cost to a government is its pension system.
France wants to try to save money by raising its pension eligibility age from 6o to 62.
Young people and union members took to the streets in protests and strikes. It got violent there for a while. The transport of fuel went to a standstill.
The French National Assembly has voted to approve the change, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to sign it in the face of a legal challenge.
A similar fate faces Social Security.
One way to rein in spending government spending here is to put more control on entitlement programs such Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Social Security and Medicare are especially vulnerable because of the volume of Baby Boomers who are now becoming eligible -- 10,000 a day for the next 20 years.
The worry is that more money will be paid in benefits to retired Boomers than will be paid in payroll taxes by America's workers.
The full retirement age for those retiring now is 66. (You can start collecting at 62, but you don't get the full value of the benefit.) For those born in 1960 or after, the full retirement age is 67.
A deficit panel created by President Barack Obama is considering a proposal that would raise the retirement age to 68 by 2050 and to 69 by 2075.
Baby Boomers will get theirs. I'll get mine at 66 ... 62 if I decide to accept less.
Baby Boomer children may not. My daughter Elizabeth will be in her mid-60s in 2049, David in 2052. And you have to wonder if Social Security will be there then and how much further out of reach it might be for my kids.
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