The title of a recently released Yahoo! article is "Early retirements strain Social Security system". This is expected. There is an increasing number of people opting to retire before the statutory retirement age and pension funds only have a fixed amount of cash on hand. This is the classic economic problem of scarcity.

The first sentence is "Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s", the first period of stagflation.

"Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year" because it is getting increasingly difficult for seniors to find a job. In addition to the bad economy, there's the age discrimination factor and the fact that seniors take longer to comprehend stuff than their younger counterparts.

According to Alan J Auerbach, an economics and law professor at UC Berkley, "A lot of people who in better times would have continued working are opting to retire" rather than risk losingn their jobs, investments and possibly even their life savings later. The words "opting to" are interesting because it seems like these people are retiring because they want to, but the fact of the matter is that they don't have a choice because of the bad economy. "If they were younger we would call them UNEMPLOYED", which is a much bigger stigma.

"Job losses are forcing more retirements, EVEN THOUGH MANY OLDER PEOPLE WANT TO KEEP WORKING. Many CAN'T AFFORD TO RETIRE especially after the financial COLLAPSE destroyed their nest eggs". This is yet more evidence that the financial crisis isn't letting up, no matter how much SOME PEOPLE keep screaming that it's over (Donald Tsang).

Marylyn Kirsch turns 62 in December. Here's her situation. She is eligible for early benefits, but "She wants to put off applying for Social Security until she is at least 67 (this would be 5 years later) because the longer you wait, THE LARGER your monthly check". This makes sense, BUT she has to find a way to eat for the next 5 years. Complicating issues is the fact that neither she nor her husband has health insurance AND ELDERLY FOLKS MUST HAVE SOME KIND OF MEDICAL CARE, NO MATTER HOW HEALTHY THEY ARE. This is why universal health care is so absolutely essential. "I want to work. I HAVE A BRAIN AND I WANT TO USE IT". There's a lady with an excellent attitude. "We won't starve. But I want more than that. I want to be able to do more than just pay my bills". Very legit. We all should be able/allowed to splurge a bit.

The number of people applying for Social Security benefits increased to 2.2 million in the 3-month period from July-October, compared with slightly less than 1.8 million for the same period in 2008, an increase of more than 22%.

According to President Obama, "The thing to remember is that it's unlikely that we are going to pull out (of this recession) with a strong recovery", implying that we could slip back into a recession very easily.

According to Kent Smetters, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, "When there's a bad recession AND WE LOSE 6 MILLION JOBS, people of all types are going to be part of that". Not necessarily. Poor people will continue to be poor. Warren Buffett will still be Warren Buffett (he is still worth billions of dollars). Li Ka-shing, Asia's richest man, will still be able to snack on caviar and abalone. Donald Tsang will still be Donald Tsang, paying undersecretaries and political assistants more than HK$200K per month. The middle class will suffer the most because these are the folks who live on fixed salaries and perhaps some small investments (which have almost certainly have been wiped out or have significantly less value now because of the recession).

Nancy Rhoades is one of the lucky ones. Although her hours have been cut to 10 hours per week, which would imply a significant loss of health coverage or complete loss of health coverage for many, Rhoades can still buy health insurance FROM THE SAME EMPLOYER IN HER REDUCED ROLE for about $530/month. Her husband Wayne, 62, was also recently laid off, but he is also lucky enough to work part time. Nancy has multiple sclerosis which is draining for most people, but Nancy is grateful and appreciative that she can still contribute to society, even though "I've had to dip into my retirement annuity for medical costs" which is an emotional/psychological and economic burden. "You don't think of thjings like this happening to you" until they actually happen and hit us in a head on collision. "You want to be in a position to work until retirement and even after retirement". Some people don't have this luxury, because of their health issues/problems. This is why health care reform and a public health care OPTION is critical so that EVERYONE who doesn't have health care can get it at an affordable rate.