Esquire : Taking from the old is justified on the grounds that they take more out of Social Security than they paid in , while the young , who pay for Social Security , will find that the program has gone belly-up by the time they retire . The idea is growing that the old get all the benefits while young suffer . But retirees have earned and saved more over the work years and should live in comfort , he says . Curbing costs of health care would curb Social Security ; he writes : Medicare can pay for itself . Etzioni : In terms of private money , older people give more than $ 170,000 to the young in gifts .
Esquire : The idea is growing that the old get all the benefits while young suffer . But retirees have earned and saved more over the work years and should live in comfort , he says . Curbing costs of health care would curb Social Security ; he writes : Medicare can pay for itself . Etzioni : In terms of private money , older people give more than $ 170,000 to the young in gifts .