I have always earned above-average wages during my working life, and I have dutifully contributed to my SS withholdings. But both my Social Security, and my wife’s, together make up only about 60% of our retirement income. The rest comes from our other employee retirement plans, a benefit most private employers no longer provide, and is under systematic attack for government employees. Even though we have no expenses other than utilities, routine maintenance and groceries, if we were forced to rely on SS alone, we’d qualify for food stamps.

And remember, I live in a retirement community. I would be considered affluent by most of my neighbor’s standards. I would estimate my typical neighbor here is a widow with a net retirement income of less than $2000 a month. And she shops with food stamps and coupons. If she was lucky, she paid off the mortgage with her old man’s life insurance check.