By Staff
The baby boomers' onslaught for Social Security benefits began quietly Oct. 15.
The "first" U.S. baby boomer, retired New Jersey teacher Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, applied for benefits over the Internet at an event hosted by Social Security Commissioner Michael Astrue.
Astrue called the estimated 10,000 people a day who will become eligible for Social Security benefits over the next two decades "America's silver tsunami."
The Social Security trust fund, passed along from one administration to the next, is projected to run dry in 2041.
Casey-Kirschling led the expected avalanche of applications from the post-World War II generation because of her birth at a second past midnight on Jan. 1, 1946.
Casey-Kirschling, who will be eligible for benefits after she turns 62 next year, taught seventh graders for 14 years at a school near Camden, N.J., before retiring and volunteering for the Red Cross in Gulf Coast areas Hurricane Katrina devastated.
She and her husband have since moved to the eastern shore of Maryland, near the Chesapeake Bay.
While her stature is largely symbolic, the generation of almost 80 million born from 1946 to 1964 is an all-too-real ticking time bomb.
Astrue sounded the predictable optimistic party line, that a gridlocked Congress will address the issue after the 2008 presidential election.
Recall that President George W. Bush proposed to create private Social Security accounts, a proposal that died in Congress.
Bush's budget director recently referred to growth in entitlements such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid a "fiscal train wreck."
Those three alone make up almost half of all federal spending.
And that share is expected to grow.
Social Security is mired in the familiar stalemate of so many other issues pointed out in a report the Treasury Department issued last month.
A permanent fix probably needs some combination of benefit reductions and tax increases – and Bush on his watch ruled out raising taxes.
Now is the time to begin addressing this issue, when time isn't of the essence.
The Michigan Legislature ably illustrated the pitfalls of squandering the time you do have by waiting until the middle of the night before it's due to buckle down on your homework.