Exercise One

1. Person G should receive extra retirement income from the government. This person was working on a company during all his life. When he retired, the company bankrupted and now he cannot receive a good pension that was promised to him by a company. His unemployment insurance was taken over, so he has to work in Wal-Mart to earn some money. According to this fact, the person deserves to receive an extra retirement income, since he worked enough time for a company to receive a pension. Thus, it is not his guilty that the company cannot pay pension, because he performed his part of the contract and now it is the company or the government that is responsible for this person’s well-being.

2. None of these people is obliged to pay extra taxes to help pay for more retirement income of others. All individuals invest in their Social Security according to their earnings (Tannahill, 2013). Hence, it would be unfair if one of them pay more in order to help others. The government is the one responsible for the people’s well-being; hence, any kind of compensations or benefits should be implemented by the governmental institutions but not from the other people’s income.

3. The retirement income should correspond to the individual’s investment that he/she does during his/her life. Hence, it means that the retirement income should be the result of person’s actions. On the other hand, there should be a minimal level that will help those people, whose retirement income is too low. The government should develop a compensation program that will help these people with the financial difficulties caused by low retirement income.

4. One of the reasons why living at the old age has become unaffordable for many Americans is the technological development and the uncertainty in tomorrow (Martin, Rose & Beach, 2012). The rapid changes that occur in the society, economy and the entire world do not guarantee that a person’s well-being will be the same in a few years. However, young people can make a difference in order to accept the possible changes, while senior people have fewer chances to cope with them.

5. Every individual is the only responsible for his/her retirement income. Despite the fact that the individual may have a good job in a reliable company, he/she should take into account that in 30 years, when he/she will retire, the company may collapse and he/she will not receive the desirable pension. This fact is difficult to predict, but it can be prevented if one takes certain measures. A person should have several desirable retirement incomes; the more, the better. The loss of one of such incomes will not damage the person’s well-being after retirement. Hence, the consequences that may lead to low retirement income are the individual’s responsibility.

6. Social Security should be available for all people who make payments according to this program; there should not be any exceptions which base on a person’s income. Social Security is a type of the insurance program; people invest in it when they are young in order to receive adequate pension when they retire (Gustman, Steinmeier & Tabatabai, 2014). Hence, the amount of Social Security payment should correspond to a person’s investment in this program. The government cannot reduce Social Security payment if a person has adequate savings and a company pension as it is a person’s own achievement. However, if person’s savings are too low, as well as the rate of his/her pension, then social security can provide additional benefits for such people.

7. Employers should provide 100 percent guarantees in order to ensure employees that they will receive adequate retirement income. Employees, who dedicate their life to work in a certain company, believe that their contribution will be priced adequately when they retire. In this way, employees rely on their employers, whose moral obligation is “to say thank you for a good job” providing an adequate pension when a person retires. According to this fact, it can be said that a work contract between employer and employees should be obeyed not only during the employees’ work, but also after the employees’ retirement.

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