Frederick R. Lynch

Fred Lynch is UCLA panelist on Boomers/AARP on March 21st

admin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 08:21:36 +0000

Hey, everyone!

I will be on a panel discussion on the afternoon of March 21st at UCLA. Topic is “Aging in a Majority Minority Nation.” This panel and a morning session will be held at DeNeve Commons.

Lynch Review of Hedrick Smith WHO STOLE THE AMERICAN DREAM?

admin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:00:32 +0000

Here’s a link to my Washington Post Review of Hedrick Smith’s WHO STOLE THE AMERICAN DREAM?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/who-stole-the-american-dream-by-hedrick-smith/2012/10/27/37f115da-f081-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_story.html

AARP Attacks by Kimberly Strassel and Sen. Jim Demint

admin — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 20:01:15 +0000

The all-important “seniors” voter demographic received long overdue media attention on Friday September 21 via coverage of President Obama’s and GOP Vice Presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s address to thousands of seniors attending AARP’s annual Life at 50 Plus mega-conference in New Orleans. Prior to the conference addresses, however, there were (apparently) two high-visibility attacks on AARP published in the Wall Street Journal by its columnist Kimberly Strassel and in the online journal Politico by U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina).

The paradox of seniors being one of the few demographic groups that GOP presidential ticket is still winning—despite the first-ever debates on heretofore untouchable issues of Medicare and Social Security reform—deserves much more attention. So does the role of AARP. However, as I discovered in my analysis of AARP in my book One Nation Under AARP, though Strassel’s column makes somewhat revealing use of emails, it is hardly news that AARP supported the Affordable Care Act—and lost members in so doing.

The key question today is why isn’t AARP mounting an even more visible and vigorous defense of Medicare and Social Security “as we know it” in the face of the first serious discussion of cutbacks to these programs by Romney-Ryan (and, quite possibly, the Obama administration as well)?
Speaking via satellite to the AARP conference, President Obama defended his health care reform plan that contains approximately $716 billion reduction in the growth rate of Medicare spending over 10 years. GOP Vice Presidential nominee, Congressman Paul Ryan, bravely appeared in person (with his “Medicare Mom” ) to make the case that changes in Medicare for his generation would help preserve the current system for current retirees and those near retirement. He was loudly booed, however, when he attacked “ObamaCare” and called for its repeal.

Before either Obama or Ryan spoke to the New Orleans audiences, however, Strassel and DeMint attacked AARP claims to being a non-partisan senior spokesperson. Strassel and Smith repeated a familiar conservative charge that AARP is really a very liberal lobby with close ties to the White House and out-of-step with its membership base and, perhaps, even its own board of directors.
Strassel obtained emails between AARP officers, the White House, and other organizations promoting passage of ObamaCare, including Medicare “cuts and rationing.” The emails she cites indicate a close, secretive, working relationship on gaining passage for the Affordable Care Act. Strassel especially noted emails that AARP officials were wary of opposition to the plan from its members and the need to cement “buy-in” from AARP’s board of directors. AARP officials, interviewed by Strassel “made no apologies for their advocacy.” In his Politico essay, DeMint repeated the standard criticism that AARP puts its interest in maximizing insurance royalties before the interests of seniors it claims to represent. DeMint charges that AARP backed an ACA that reduces profits for Medicare Advantage plans (administered by private corporations) so that AARP could make more money on its Medigap insurance tailored to traditional Medicare plans. (This is an old charge. AARP does receive lower royalty reimbursement from its Medicare Advantage plans, but some AARP officers openly promote Advantage plans as a boon for low-income seniors.)

Amazingly no one really knows much about AARP. It remains one of the most powerful, yet low-profile and unstudied, lobbying organizations in the nation. Its claim to represent seniors is somewhat compromised, not by crude material interests of selling AARP-branded insurance and other products but by its desire to maintain the highest levels of trust and “customer satisfaction”—inherently at odds with potentially customer-alienating tough political stands AARP should take in defense of senior citizens’ political interests. In addition to the “customer trust” v. “hardball politics” tension, conservative critics are somewhat correct that AARP generally reflects a left-of-center “Beltway elites” political and cultural outlook that may be out-of-step with rank and file. Under its previous leaders,CEO Bill Novelli and policy director John Rother, the organization also had a busy, expansive multi-generational agenda that led to criticism (even within the organization) that AARP had lost its focus and identity on senior citizens. (See my New York Times, July 23, 2011 essay “How AARP Can Get Its Groove Back.”)

Peggy Noonan on Baby Boomers and Medicare/Medicaid

admin — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 23:58:21 +0000

The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan is one of my favorite writers. She really has her fingers on the pulse of America most of the time. I quoted her several times in my book ONE NATION UNDER AARP.

Today, she had a very pithy, very fair paragraph about baby boomers. Here it is:

Here’s what I’m seeing the past 10 years. The baby boomers have been supporting their grown children and their aged parents. They are stressed, stretched and largely uncomplaining, because they know that as boomers—shallow, selfish—they’re the only generation not allowed to complain. And just as well, as complaints are the only area of national life where we have a surplus. But they are spiritually and financially holding the country together, and they’re coming to terms with the fact that it’s going to be that way for a good long time. They’re going to take a keen interest in where Medicaid goes.

Right on!

Paul Ryan Pick Puts Medicare and AARP in the Cross-Hairs

admin — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 07:26:39 +0000

Mitt Romney’s pick of Paul Ryan for VP will put not only Medicare but AARP squarely in the cross-hairs of public debate! AARP is going to be forced into making a strong stand in favor of traditional Medicare and Social Security–or probably risk losing huge numbers of members. This will also erode their “non-partisan” image and further infuriate conservatives who already see AARP as a front for the liberal establishment.

AARP is in the second phase of their “you’ve earned a say” listening-to-our-members campaign. In town halls and via a series of “robo-calls” (I got one two days ago) the organization is testing member support (or opposition) to Ryan’s “voucherization” of Medicare with the following question:

3. Which of these statements do you agree with more?
All future retirees should continue to get guaranteed coverage and care as seniors do now.
Future retirees should be given a set amount of money to choose among many insurance plans with different benefits and costs.

Based on my observations of two AARP California town halls–see previous posts–most members will probably overwhelmingly choose the first option.

So, as the subtitle of my book ONE NATION UNDER AARP states: “The Fight Over Medicare, Social Security, and America’s Future” has just begun!

NYT Bill Keller on “The Entitled Generation”

admin — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 18:49:58 +0000

NY Times columnist Bill Keller did something of the usual stereotypical take on “entitled boomers” in his essay “The Entitled Generation” on July 29. (Here is the link:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/opinion/keller-the-entitled-generation.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss.)

He is a bit critical of the overkill on boomer stereotypes and criticisms but then blandly admits “we are an entitled generation.” He argues that we need to reform social security and Medicare and that “we have done more than our share to make this mess…and resist the boomer temptation to take every cent of the reform from the pockets of our kids.”

Thanks a lot Bill! Another boomer-bashing-boomers.

He does mention that AARP should “lead.” What does he think they are doing–they’re holding dozens of “You’ve earned a say” conferences around the nation.

I’ll have another post on the hundreds of (largely critical) comments Keller’s piece earned.

AARP “You’ve Earned a Say” Campaign

admin — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 23:31:17 +0000

AARP has completed its first round ot town halls designed to elicit member perceptions and opinions on Medicare and Social Security. I have analyzed two California town halls in a recent Op Ed in the San Diego Union Tribune: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/12/aarp-must-bridge-class-political-gaps-to-save/?print&page=all

Coming up will be a serious of town halls and web-based probings of members’ views on actual proposals to reform Medicare and Social Security.

Eventually AARP will propose its own proposals in the fall and compare their positions with those of the major political candidates.

AARP Finds Class Divide in Town Halls on Medicare/Social Security

admin — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 23:21:35 +0000

(Here is a modified version of my San Diego Union Tribune Op Ed (July 12, 2012) on class differences that appeared at California Town Halls on Social Security and Medicare)

Link: http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/jul/12/aarp-must-bridge-class-political-gaps-to-save/?print&page=all

AARP must bridge class, political gaps to save entitlements

By Frederick R. Lynch

Thursday, July 12, 2012

AARP was founded more than 50 years ago in the pre-Medicare era to provide affordable health insurance and a positive aging agenda for older Americans. Now the organization is mobilizing its 37 million members for the coming entitlement battle and hopes to occupy its usual preeminent place at the bargaining table. AARP successfully lobbied for Medicare prescription drug coverage (2003), sank George W. Bush’s plans to privatize part of Social Security (2005) and backed the Affordable Care Act (2010).

If Republicans win control of the White House and Congress (and demoralize Democrats), then AARP might well be seniors’ most powerful voice for preserving “Medicare as we know it” – and to resist Wisconsin GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s bill to privatize future benefits for citizens currently under age 55.

To mobilize and gauge member support for its own entitlement agenda, AARP launched “You’ve Earned a Say,” an online and town hall campaign to educate members about Social Security and Medicare’s fiscal realities and to test tolerance for reform. As part of this mobilization, AARP must rebuild lost trust and lost membership (nearly half a million) in the wake of accusations that it sold out Medicare to the Affordable Care Act. Based on observations at two recent California town halls, building an “age power” consensus must also transcend two key divisions: social class and political ideology. The format was the same in both the heavily Hispanic, working-class eastern L.A. suburb of Pico Rivera and in the predominantly Anglo, upper-middle-class San Diego suburb of Rancho Bernardo. PowerPoint presentations portrayed Medicare and Social Security’s features, funding sources and allocation of expenditures. But both the tone and types of responses at the two gatherings were very different.

In Pico Rivera, only 30 of the anticipated 60 AARP members showed up. They took seats on ancient folding metal chairs in a local high school’s dingy multipurpose room. Approximately two-thirds were women; at least half were Hispanic (three men used devices for simultaneous English-Spanish translation) and most appeared to be working class and over 60. When asked multiple-choice questions about Medicare and Social Security, about half indicated the programs needed only “minor changes” while 27 percent selected “major changes.” About 13 percent felt the programs were “in crisis” and 9 percent felt the programs were “OK as is.” One theme in open-ended discussions was “hands off” the programs. Several participants noted that these “entitlements” had been earned and that the middle class was “disappearing.” There were questions about disability benefits, long-term care issues and grandparents raising children.

Four days later, on May 22, a capacity crowd of 64 AARP members met in the upscale Rancho Bernardo Public Library. A striking 67 percent thought Medicare needed major changes and 22 percent thought the program was “in crisis.” The well-educated, well-dressed, almost all-white members (including many married couples) were more equally divided on whether Social Security needed minor changes or major ones: 42 and 40 percent, respectively. Practically no one thought either program could or would remain “as is.” In contrast to the Pico Rivera gathering, the Rancho Bernardo meeting ran like clockwork. There was lively, detailed discussion of the complexities entitlement present and future funding. There was no discussion of disability policies or of raising grandchildren. There were more conservative voices here; several people strongly articulated their mistrust of government, though a denunciation of “for-profit health care” drew an enthusiastic response. A few thought vouchers or “something else” might be in store for younger generations.

These contrasting town halls pose a strategic dilemma for AARP: “Social justice” concerns favor insulating working-class seniors with minimal entitlement changes – perhaps through means-testing of benefits by income. Meanwhile, upper-middle-class seniors with employer-sponsored pensions and health insurance are more willing to consider major reforms, but might see indexing remedies as unfairly penalizing hard-earned achievement and careful retirement planning. What to do?

AARP initially rallied seniors with the somewhat self-righteous, individualistic slogan, “You’ve Earned It.” A more unifying theme might be found in AARP’s own organizational mantra, coined by its founder Ethel Percy Andrus: “What we do we do for all.” This slogan echoes her Greatest Generation’s spirit of E Pluribus Unum and national community so vital in achieving their proudest policy legacy: Medicare and Social Security. The New Deal and Great Society goals of strong government safety nets are still part of many AARP members’ generational DNA. Re-energizing those more cohesive traditions might moderate members’ differing class and ideological entitlement views – and could appeal to a battle-weary and polarized general electorate.

Lynch, an associate professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, is the author of “One Nation Under AARP: The Fight Over Medicare, Social Security, and America’s Future.”
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Boomers Bad Brand Posted at Nextavenue.org

admin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:27:43 +0000

Here is a link to my new article on why boomers need to “fix their bad brand.” Boomers have a lousy generational image, largely because of “boomers bashing boomers.” We are our own worst enemies in many instances.

http://www.nextavenue.org/article/2012-06/its-time-boomers-fix-their-bad-brand

Elites v. Masses: Take II (GOP)

admin — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 04:29:10 +0000

There’s a new article in today’s (Sunday’s) WashPost on how the Santorum-Romney battle is dividing the GOP along income and cultural lines. Wealthy, non-sectarian Republicans favoring a cool managerial approach favor Romney; those with strong religious orientations and generally “downscale” Republicans favor Santorum. As the Post article points out this is the familiar “wine track/beer track” divide that emerged in the Democratic primaries in 2008. Upscale Dems voted for Obama and working class whites (especially women) favored Clinton. This pattern in American politics has emerged since the 2004 elections and I discuss this trend in my book ONE NATION UNDER AARP. (Indeed, this educated, upper-income, professional class v. non-college working class cleavage will likely emerge as AARP tries to navigate the coming debate over Medicare and Social Security.)