AARP conference: Will opposition to entitlement reform ever stop?

AARP brings its Life@50+ convention to Las Vegas today through Saturday. Participants will find an abundance of personal, financial and health care advice to better prepare them for the financial challenges of retirement — especially if the economic downturn has changed their plans.

Imagine the good that could be accomplished if AARP’s politics were nearly as helpful and well-intentioned.

AARP’s lobbying machine is among the most ruthless and disingenuous operations in America. The nonprofit and its 40 million members have succeeded in halting all recent attempts to address the federal government’s greatest fiscal challenge: the crippling unfunded liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Entitlements already cost roughly $1.6 trillion per year, about 45 percent of the federal budget. The programs are on track to consume all federal revenues by 2045, as tens of millions more baby boomers retire. More than $65 trillion worth of promised Social Security and Medicare benefits aren’t funded. Income tax rates could be doubled across the board and they still wouldn’t cover the bill.

The programs must be reformed for future beneficiaries. Eligibility ages should be increased to address longer life spans. Benefits will have to be means tested. And Medicare needs to embrace more competition to keep costs down. Republicans have been the driving force behind such proposals — at their political peril — but bipartisan efforts have reached similar conclusions. AARP has savaged all of them.

The group’s messages consistently rely on misinformation to scare members and rile them into panicked opposition. No one in Congress has put forward a plan that would reduce Social Security or Medicare benefits for current retirees, yet AARP creates campaigns that feature senior citizens warning of imminent cuts. Former Sen. Alan Simpson, who co-chaired President Barack Obama’s deficit reduction commission, said one AARP spot against entitlement reform was “the most disgusting ad I’ve ever seen.” AARP’s members vote, and that terrifies lawmakers into doing nothing.

AARP works to convince its members that entitlements are solvent and viable. In fact, the group’s strident opposition to reforms for future beneficiaries poses a grave threat to current retirees. The federal government already has $17 trillion in debt. As entitlement spending grows and spurs more borrowing, rising interest costs and jittery capital markets could cause the programs to collapse. The longer Congress puts off reforms, the more Draconian the options get.

This week’s Las Vegas conference would be a perfect time for AARP to start properly educating its members on the importance of entitlement reform and why they should support it. Their retirements might depend on it.