So we have heard a great deal about poor young people shouldering the burden of supporting the increasingly unattractive and growing crop of geezers - not to be confused with the noble and cuddly seniors of the Greatest Generation. The solution offered to this manifest unfairness is to make Social Security and Medicare into means tested programs. My people call this welfare.

So Wonks Anonymous was somewhat curious to see just how bad this massive injustice was. Which information for 2007 can be found in table 676 - Money Income of Households—Distribution by Income Level and Selected Characteristics: 2007 of the Statistical Abstract of the US

Age of householder:		Median Income 2007 Dollars
Under 65 Years		65,755
15 to 24 years old		31,283
25 to 34 years old		52,291
35 to 44 years old		67,849
45 to 54 years old		77,440
55 to 64 years old		72,286
65 years old and over		41,851
65 to 74 years old		47,733
75 years old and over		34,817

The first thing that the reader may note is that the only group of households that has a lower median income than households headed by someone over 65 are households headed by someone aged from 15 to 24. All other groups have at least $10,000 more median annual income.

If the reader is particularly concerned about rich Boomers he should also note the drop in median income that happens when the head of household cross over from 54 to 55.

Now we should also ask just where seniors household incomes would be if we took away Social Security. Average household payments for Social Security in 2009 were $22,512 for a retired couple. subtract these from the median income, fudging a little because payments were less in 2007, and we get remaining income for our senior household of about $20,000 for 2007.

Which income is less than that enjoyed by any other group.