Senior Citizens in the U.S.

Society
By: Nikki Kiehl
SEC 345 45 Consumer in Our Society
Ethan Stubbs
December 6, 2018
 Introduction
• Why Do Senior Citizen Live in Poverty
• How Ageism Impacts the Community
• Hunger Within Older Adults
• How Does Social Security Help Retired Individuals
• Personal Interview
• What Solutions Will Help Reduce Poverty for Senior Citizens
• The Connection Between Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and Poverty
• Conclusion
Senior Citizens Living in Poverty

• Who is affected
• Majority of individuals
reaching retirement age.
• Elderly black women
• Elders living in rural
areas
• Other elderly women
• Single living individuals
Ageism and It’s Impact on the Community

• Ageism
• Discrimination against individuals age 60
and above
• Reasoning for seniors not able to support
their financial obligations
• Job discrimination because seniors are
considered too old to work
 Hunger Within Older Adults
• Lower income results in less nutritional valued food intake
• Increased health conditions due to lack of nutritional foods
• Limited food sources of food
• Higher rates of food insecurity results in increased
depression, asthma, and high blood pressure
• In 2016, 4.9 million seniors were food insecure
The Impact of Introducing Social Security

• Seniors continuing to work past age 65

by 2022
• 4% increase for men
• 5% increase for women
• Humans are living longer, so Social
Security and Medicare expenses will
increase from 8% to 12% by 2050
Interview on Senior Citizens Who Experience
Poverty
• Interviewed my maternal grandparents
• Made minimal income their entire lives
• Frequents at food bank
• Uses government programs, such as Wellfare
• Receives Food Stamps once a month
 Solutions to Ending Poverty for Senior
Citizens
• Better understanding of why expenses rise while income does not
• Will raising minimum wage impact our future generations?
• This will impact corporation and companies hiring, but will force
them into reevaluating their own expenses
• Introduce Guaranteed Retirement Accounts (GRAs)
• Similar to 401k but without the opportunity to withdrawal early
• Taken directly from one’s paycheck and put into a savings fund at a
lower rate
• Money that is forcing individuals to save without relying on social
funding
 Catholic
Social
Teaching and
Poverty

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

Conclusion

Poverty amongst senior citizens is decreasing, but

there is still much progress to be done. Without
making changes across the country, seniors will
continue to face poverty once they are no longer
employed. Limited income after retirement will
only continue for our future generations without
changes in the system.
 References
• Bee, A., Edwards, A., Fox, L. (2017). United States Census Bureau, Census Blogs. Outlying older Americans: the puzzle of
increasing poverty among those 65 and older. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/random-
samplings/2017/09/outlying_older_ameri.html
• Benedict XVI. (2009). Caritas in veritate: Of the supreme pontiff. Retrieved from
http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20090629_caritas-in-
veritate.html
• Cawthorne, A. (2008). Center for American Progress. Elderly poverty: The challenge be us. Retrieved from
https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/poverty/reports/2008/07/30/4690/elderly-poverty-the-challenge-before-
us/
• Cooper, D. & Gould, E. (2013). Economic Policy Institute. Financial security of elderly Americans at risk, proposed
changes to social security and Medicare could make a majority of seniors ‘economically vulnerable’. Retrieved
from https://www.epi.org/publication/economic-security-elderly-americans-risk/
• Feeding America. (2018). Senior hunger research. Retrieved from
https://www.feedingamerica.org/research/senior-hunger-research
• Fisher, B., Ghilarducci, T., Knauss, Z. (2015). The New School SCEPA. Now is the time to add retirement accounts to
social security: The guaranteed retirement account proposal. Retrieved from
http://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/images/docs/retirement_security_background/GRA_3.0.pdf
• Mather, M. (2016). Population Reference Bureau. Fact sheet: aging in the United States.
Retrieved from https://www.prb.org/aging-unitedstates-fact-sheet/
• Robins, L. A. (2018). American Society on Aging. The pernicious problem of ageism. Retrieved from
https://www.asaging.org/blog/pernicious-problem-ageism
• Social Security Administration, Social Security. (2018). Historical background and development of social security.
Retrieved from https://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html