What Does AARP Stand For?

If you're over 50 you've already heard from the folks at the AARP. If you think you know who or what the AARP is, or what AARP stands for, you're probably mistaken. Today, rather than representing the interests of retired Americans, AARP represents what can only be called a political agenda. 

Last year, when the AARP campaigned in support of healthcare reform legislation that many believed threatened Medicare benefits, people began to ask who does AARP represent, and what exactly does AARP stand for, both the letters in its name and the organization itself.

AARP once did "stand for" something. In fact two things. The letters stood for American Association of Retired Persons, and the organization stood for, in support of, the interests of retired people. Or is it persons?

But today many people don't retire at 65, if they actually still have jobs to go to, and the AARP sends membership applications to anyone who turns 50. If the AARP continues to lower the age for membership, the bar to entry will be so low that toddlers will be able to get over it and become members.  

So in 1998, with the name no longer reflecting the demographics of its members, it was changed to just a set of letters. Today, the organization itself no longer reflects the interests of what it claims are its 40 million members.

But are these really "members?" They don't show up for meetings or make policy decisions. They don't actually elect delegates to represent them. It's probably even less representative and democratic than any business corporation. Those 40 million "members" are members only because they pay a nominal annual fee of $16, which gets them what they really want...discounts on everything from hotel rooms to health insurance and prescription drugs. 

For $16 you become a member of AARP in the same sense that you become an American Express member for $150.  The difference is that American Express doesn't go to Washington claiming to speak for the interests of its 48 million "members."  Something that AARP does. But who appointed AARP to speak for 40 million Americans?  How could they? That's more than 10 percent of the nation's population.  Only the president of the United States can claim such a large constituency.

It's time for AARP to get honest. It does not represent the interests of seniors, retired people, or even people over 50. It's a marketing organization that licenses its name to hawkers of products and services to those people. It then leverages its market clout to promote a political agenda that is often at odds with the true interests of the people it disingenuously claims to represent.  That might require another name change, although it would be hard to spell out in a handful of letters.

A tale of one county. It was the worst of times. It was the worst of times.

Join me on a trip down memory lane from a Gwinnett County millage rate increase that “will carry us through the five-year financial plan,” yet just seven months later instead be a $47.5 million deficit. 

March 21, 2010 “We feel like the cuts that we made in 2009, including the millage rate increase, will carry us through the five-year financial plan,” said Aaron Bovos, Gwinnett’s chief financial officer. “We went through the pain last year.” AJC

August 17, 2010 Finance director Aaron Bovos acknowledged it’s a temporary budget fix. He said the county must overcome a $31 million shortfall as it begins to put together its 2011 budget. AJC

November 10, 2010 “Affirmation of our ratings is solid evidence of Gwinnett County’s financial stability and sound management as we navigate today’s difficult financial and economic conditions,” Bovos said. Gwinnett Daily Post

November 16, 2010 Gwinnett could cut its library budget by 15 percent and money to subsidies in half to try to make up a $47.5 million budget deficit. Finance Director Aaron Bovos made the recommendation Tuesday but noted that even with the use of $15.8 million from a one-time second tax payment earlier this year, the county is still $17 million in the hole. Gwinnett Daily Post

What will be next? 

What part of financial crisis don't you get?

What part of financial crisis don't you get?  That's what I would ask the department heads in the Gwinnett County (Georgia) government.  I read the budget requests submitted by each of the County's departments and what I saw distressed me.  Not because the total of requests represents a net increase over the current year budget or because a few departments actually requested increases, while a few others proposed reductions for their departments.  No, I'm distressed because anyone with the responsibility of heading a department of the County's government would have the temerity to propose a budget demanding more money than last year when every indication is that county will be collecting less money than last year, and is likely to collect even less money in the following year.

It's not that these offending department heads don't know the financial crisis facing the County.  It's been a matter of discussion and debate for more than 18 months.  It's apparent that these department heads, rather than pitching in to help resolve the problem, continue to subscribe to the old dictum of budgeting, "if you ask for more than you really need, your request will be cut to what you really wanted in the first place."  So, ask for more; you'll get less, but it'll be what you really want, or close to it."  It's dishonest. It's lazy. It's unprofessional. And it's destructive to good government and citizen trust.

So rather than being honest and actually assessing their departments' needs in the context of what is affordable, they just fire off a "hail Mary" pass and hope for the best.  That's not how professionals should do their jobs and it's not what is needed in this situation.  The fact that they did it anyway demonstrates that each lacks the leadership qualities their position and these times demand of them. It similarly demonstrates that their bosses in the County Government, both in the administration and the County Commission, lack the leadership skills and qualities to get the people reporting to them to perform in a manner commensurate with the demands of their jobs and the current circumstances.

While the final budget will surely (hopefully) look a lot different than the department requests suggest, the fact that there are people in the government who don't understand that it's not business as usual, and that no one managed to make them understand, underscores the crisis of leadership this County faces.  It's my hope that someone with integrity and demonstrated leadership qualities will step up next month to offer to turn this situation around.  The citizens of Gwinnett County can not afford to have a government that's in a state of permanent denial. The County is in a financial and leadership crisis.  Pretending it's not will only compound the pain we will inevitably have to endure.  The time is getting short.