An article by Robert Samuelson in the Washington Post of November 5th posits that the elderly population of the United States is not the poverty- stricken, sick crowd that people like to imagine. Many (not all!) are financially comfortable and in good health. He says the “poor old people” story is only designed to protect old-age benefits. He states that income for retirees has actually risen overall (15.6% for the over-70s), whereas income for younger people has fallen sharply. Samuelson says, “Stop coddling the elderly, and the transfer of wealth from young to old”.

Samuelson’s agenda is to reduce government spending. It is true that there are old people who are rich and do not need government help. (In London, as an an instance of silly pandering to the elderly, all elderly get totally free public transport – nice, but it should be means tested). What he doesn’t say is that the older generation saved for their retirement, whereas younger people, the great consumerist generation, tend to spend all and save little. Secondly, the elderly have paid into Social Security all their working lives, and are simply getting back what they put in. Thirdly, Medicare is not, as he seems to imply, free. Old people pay a lot for Medicare, on top of any supplementary health insurance.

Epicurus, a proponent of fairness, friendship and compassion, would query the huge efforts some Republicans make to avoid paying tax and might philosophise about the idea that there could be enough to go round for everyone if the greedy paid their fair share of tax.