Much ado has been made over the impending retirement of Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, of Maryland. A teacher before retiring, she spent time volunteering for the Red Cross in Gulf Coast areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Teacher. Volunteer. Both admirable qualities that should garner much more attention, and applause, than given to sports figures, movie stars or politicians' lifestyles.

Instead, Casey-Kirschling gains importance because she became the first baby boomer to apply for Social Security benefits.

Born one second after midnight, Jan. 1, 1946, she hopes to begin collecting her monthly payments right away when she turns 62 in January.

Be scared, be very scared, people have been told. Casey-Kirschling has begun what some call the "silver tsunami," the "stampede, or the "first droplet of a demographic flood."

Rowland Nethaway, in an Oct. 22 commentary in The Star, wrote: "They earned their Social Security checks and, by golly, they expect to receive them as soon as they can sign up."

Newsday, in an Oct. 12 editorial, wrote: "But one thing is sure about boomers. They won't be quiet about their plight especially if political pressure can be applied to resolve major entitlement issues."

Jack X. Smith, an editorial writer for the Forth Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram, wrote in an Oct. 19 column: "During the next two decades, early 80 million Americans are expected to become eligible for Social Security benefits. That's an unprecedented rate of 10,000-plus new beneficiaries every 24 hours."

In other words, Casey-Kirschling kicks off the time when baby boomers who took on education, politics and war during the 1960s raid the Social Security system.

There has been ample warnings that Social Security would begin going sour in 2017, when payouts begin exceeding revenues, and that the assets of the Social Security trust fund would be exhausted by 2041.

Nothing has been done to remedy the situation. Now, the scare tactics start — 10,000 people a day banging on Social Security offices' doors demanding benefits.

A little perspective, please. People can only collect Social Security when they turn 62, and that is at reduced payments. Births in 1946 totaled 3.43 million according to the Census Bureau's "Statistical Abstract of the United States." That averages out to a bit more than 9,700 a day. But in January 1946, if the Wikipedia article on baby boomers is valid, 222,721 births occurred for an average of a bit more than 7,100 a day.

Not all those who become eligible will immediately race out and collect Social Security. According to figures used with the Oct. 21 Newsday editorial, of the 3.2 million eligible to apply for early, reduced Social Security payments next year, only 49 percent of men and 53 percent of women plan to do so.

So, instead of hordes of greedy baby boomers getting ready to drain Social Security, there will be only a trickle, perhaps 3,500 a day at first, if even that. Half of those eligible might be planning to apply for the benefits, but economic ups and down could change those plans drastically.

And so, too, can Medicare. Unless those turning 62 in 2008 have health insurance from other sources, they might have to wait three more years to retire, when they become eligible for Medicare.

And Medicare is in worse shape than Social Security. By 2018, only seven years after the first baby boomers turn 65, Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund is expected to run out of money.

Yes, more people than previously will be retiring. That has been known for decades. Congress and presidents have done little to fix these two programs that have helped blunt poverty among retirees.

The 2017 financial woes of Social Security can be delayed for a bit by the simple act of removing the $92,000 cap on payroll deductions. Let all earnings be subject to the payroll deduction. A slight, temporary increase in payroll deductions also would help.

Fixing Medicare can't be delayed, but Congress will. Its members won't tackle anything controversial in a presidential election year, and fixing Medicare will be very controversial. It will require a top-to-bottom overhaul and the overhaul must be done without undue influence by the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

So, yes, baby boomers are getting ready to retire. They will be asking for their Social Security, something for which they have worked toward for more than 45 years. They also will want Medicare.

And, at 80 million strong, that's one heck of a voting bloc to drive the process. And, as they showed during the 1960s, boomers know how to drive the process.

— Richard Larsen is a deputy opinion page editor at The Star. His e-mail address is rlarsen@VenturaCountyStar.com.