FYI: Gen Z is Worried About Social Security and Medicare, Too

Trump just announced that he wants to make the payroll tax cut permanent – but what does that mean for us Gen Zs who are about to make our way into the workforce, especially after a millennial generation who have been cut down twice by economic downturn events in the 2008 housing crisis and now with COVID. 

Here’s the what you need to understand. The payroll tax funds Social Security and Medicare, institutions put in place by FDR after the Great Depression. It is primarily responsible for unemployment insurance, retirement savings, disability benefits, and benefits for spouses or the family of people who have passed. Medicare is a federal health insurance program put in place for people who are 65 or older and people with disabilities.

 All of this is paid for by the payroll tax – and Trump wants to do away with all of it. We, as a government and society, protect our most vulnerable – and that’s a beautiful thing. People taking advantage of these services are generally older citizens, and that’s probably why we never talk about it amongst our peers.

But the reality is that if these services are removed by Trump, then they won’t be there for us when we need them.

We won’t have the money we need to retire at a comfortable age and be financially secure – because we let these rights be taken from us without knowing how critical they really are to our future.

We take these institutions for granted (and generally don’t make it out to vote), and for the last 90 years, it hasn’t monumentally changed our life path and our government protected retirement services.

But we will get older, and if we don’t act now to protect our future, we will be letting the generation in power benefit from these programs and continually leave us with nothing. 

Even if you think you’ll be financially stable enough to get by as a retiree without any government aid – look at who you’re taking the money from by not paying the payroll taxes.

You’re taking from disabled people, widows and widowers, the families who’ve lost their breadwinners.

You’re taking from the unemployed, your parents and grandparents, the greatest generation who gave everything and asked for nothing in return.

For these people, Social Security and Medicare are the difference between a content and secure life and falling through the cracks of a broken society.

Do not worsen their pain. We created these services for a reason, in response to the Great Depression. And if we’re not careful and if we don’t vote, we too will be the continual punching bags of a failed government – padding the pockets of the need-nots and leaving the rest to fight for scraps.