Entire Generation's Inheritance Going To Pay Parents Medical Costs

by architek, Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 11:26:48 AM EST

Today's New York Times has a good article explaining how many in the younger generation are not going to be receiving much, if any, of an inheritance from their middle-class parents. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/21/busine ss/yourmoney/21money.html

The money that they might have received in many other societies, elsewhere, here is being siphoned away by the rapidly escalating costs of medical care and other increased costs that did not exist for generations past (who typically died much earlier, for example, when Social Security was instituted in 1934, the average lifespan was 63.)

This leads me to speculate on where this all is taking us.
Obviously, the well-to do - who often have long term care insurance, annuities, etc, and who can afford those costs and then some, can still expect substantial windfalls due to the low inheritance tax, which leads to extreme concentration of wealth (at the extremes -  as the US is becoming a so called "M society")

Society is changing too. Nobody knows how long they may be able to work. Working society may simply not need them, even if they need work.

Technology is playing a big part in this. We may be hading into a post-industrial world, but most of us have that option that exists today of working on we don't have enough saved up to 'retire'?

For many of us, those without highly develped and still current skillsets, probably not.

Looking into the future, its not hard to see a future where the traditional methods of earning a living are largely absent, due to technological improvements. (People will no longer be employed in automated manufacturing except as technicians and designers)

'Safe' fields of employment such as the sciences, medicine and the arts, will be highly competitive.  Many (most?) will live on the fringes of society, marginalized and cut off from access to credit or income by their lack of skills and connections. Many will be mired in debt, as will their communities and nations.

In this society, only the rich will inherit, but, due to concentration of wealth, much of the wealth in circulation will increasingly "be inherited wealth" or investment income. It won't be from wages from work. And it will go increasingly to those with the surplus wealth to save. Not the middle or lower classes.

American society may end up resembling that of countries like Brazil and India.

The wealthy will live guarded lives of conspicuous consumption in gated communities and even, gated nations. (Tax havens, often in isolated areas geographically?)

Most probably, they will be able to shield most of their wealth from taxes by maintaining residence in multiple places and shifting money away from the eyes of governments to tax them. They will have lots of options.

One can even see the problem of disinvestment becoming international.

Tax havens with low costs of services, and low pension obligations, will attract the increasingly mobile rich, and their money, while the poor will live in the crumbling and by then, almost completely looted 'democracies'. (Everything that is not nailed down will probably have been stolen or taxed away by the inefficient governments, who will use the money partly to employ the well connected.)


Poll
Should we 'repeal the DEATH TAX' now, 'while we still can'? (answer as many as you agree with)
Yes, progressive taxation is the equivalent of Communism. We should tax the poor MORE, because they use MORE services! Grrrrr...
Yes, I don't want to pay for other people's children to go to college. Who cares how society is. I've got mine.
Yes, I hope I will be rich someday, even though the statistics show its far less likely now than it has been since the Great Depression.
I don't care. Give me my TV, bread and circuses.
No, lets not repeal that death tax. Only a common sense approach to building future economic growth and responsible fiscal policy can make America a prosperous country again. That means cutting waste in spending and reducing debt. The most equitable point
No, I would like to see the tax on inherited wealth, particularly estates over $1,000,000 be increased to historic levels (they are currently VERY low, especially when you consider that we are at war.)
No, I think the US should apply a very high tax to estates over $5million or so, approaching 100% That would encourage philanthropy, and still allow the rich to provide for their (often spoiled) children. If that won't even buy them a co-op in Manhattan t
No, I would like to see more money spent on education, heath and human services, and less on the huge Pentagon budget, which dwarves the military expenditures of the entire rest of the world, combined.
No, we should not eliminate the death tax because it is part of a progressive vision of the future - one which rewards work and tries to make opportunity available to all of us.
No, I think we should try to encourage wealth but right now, the wealthy are becoming too powerful because of the concentration of wealth, which means that the rest of us often suffer because we don't have access to government's ear. Money should not be a

Votes: 8
Results : Vote Link : Polls


Tags: m-society, estate taxes, taxes, inheritance (all tags)

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Permalink :: 5 Comments :: Post a Comment


Re: Entire Generation's (none / 0)

I cannot really argue with the premise that the Boomers are spending a damned fortune on health care.  God help us if they ever discover that cybernetics can extend their lives further!  Can you imagine cyber-Boomers?  Sheesh, that would really bankrupt us.

We need to live healthier.  We can slash healthcare costs through preventative care and healthier living.  People should exercise more and stop drinking that Cancer Juice.  I mean, it's properly labelled and there's warnings on it.  :)

But seriously, we have no good reason to spend this kind of money on health care.  A few simple lifestyle changes and we can avoid having to repeat this madness.


by Reaper0Bot0 on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 11:31:54 AM EST

Toxic exposures in the home and workplace (2.00 / 2)

We need to apply scientific knowledge to rulemaking and give OSHA, HUD, and the local health and building departments some real teeth to enforce them. Millions of people are being injured by toxic chemicals and environments and we are doing next to nothing to stop it.

This is causing a LOT of misery. Building healthy environments for both work and life should be everybody's business.

Poor people should not be forced to live in toxic housing. We need a national initiative to develop cost effective ways to improve people's homes without tearing them down and evicting them.


Universal healthcare IS a core Democratic value
Without a REAL committment to it, we WON'T win in November.
by architek on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 11:37:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Kudos for the comment (none / 0)

FU for the sig.

Pick a side - be a troll or be part of the conversation.


"A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Sail out to sea and do new things." Admiral Grace Hopper, computer pioneer
by chrisblask on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 03:57:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Entire Generation's Inheritance Going To Pay P (2.00 / 1)

well shit. yeah basically most middle-class families wealth come from their houses. and well with the mortgage crisis, you'll see that alot of wealth has been lost.

----yeah the technology field is gonna become increasingly competitive, it already is, and all fields related to science will be on the rise. thats for sure.

---most college grads are buried in debt right now. it will continue to get worse. they wont actually start 'making money' after quite sometime.



"Rankles and Rush Limbaugh, ruining the chaos brand since 2008."
by alyssa chaos on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 12:09:22 PM EST

Re: Entire Generation's Inheritance Going To Pay P (none / 0)

what is sadly funny is how many middle-class repukes vote to have their lives eviscerated and the middle-class they belong to destroyed. now that is the definition of sheeple...


by zerosumgame on Sat Jun 21, 2008 at 02:26:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]


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