Facing Up To An Aging America
Robert Samuelson has a column up today over at Real Clear Politics that should, rightfully, scare the socks off any thinking American. He points out a really, really inconvenient truth: the Baby boomers could very well bankrupt America in the next couple of decades as they retire. This subject has, of course, long been avoided by politicians in both parties as well as by most Washington think tanks. Samuelson suggests that it is time for that to change. Before it is too late.
The aging of America is not just a population change or, as a budget problem, an accounting exercise. It involves a profound transformation of the nature of government: Commitments to the older population are slowly overwhelming other public goals; the national government is becoming mainly an income-transfer mechanism from younger workers to older retirees.
Consider the outlook. From 2005 to 2030, the 65-and-over population will nearly double to 71 million; its share of the population will rise to 20 percent from 12 percent. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — programs that serve older people — already exceed 40 percent of the $2.7 trillion federal budget. By 2030, their share could hit 75 percent of the present budget, projects the Congressional Budget Office.
The 2030 projections are daunting. To keep federal spending stable as a share of the economy would mean eliminating all defense spending and most other domestic programs (for research, homeland security, the environment, etc.). To balance the budget with existing programs at their present economic shares would require, depending on assumptions, tax increases of 30 percent to 50 percent — or budget deficits could quadruple. A final possibility: Cut retirement benefits by increasing eligibility ages, being less generous to wealthier retirees or trimming all payments.
Samuelson has a modest suggestion. Have a neutral foundation or individual fund a small book. Have six think tanks, three liberal, three conservative, contribute competing ideas on how to manage this looming demographic disaster. It's a terrific idea, logical and smart. Therefore, it will never happen. Which is a real problem. Because right now you have the left proposing enormous increases in government despite the looming boomer bust that is only a few years down the road. Discussions of current plans should be looking at the future consequences, too. They are not. Everyone is ignoring this problem.
By syn, Wednesday, 1 August , 2007 @ 7:46 am
Born in 1961 I’m the last of the LSD-driven baby boomers and what bugs me most about this over-population of retiring freaked-out baby-boomers is that this is the same generation of people who whind endlessly about their ‘glorious me-generation narcissism’. These are the same people who encourage abortion, encourage nanny governance, encourage ‘let it all hang out’ lifestyle while regulating, mandating, dictating their supremacy through emotionally blackmailing all other dissent. They are the cultural Marxists who are the second-wave feminists, the plantation slave-ownings colorists, the contrived gayists, the obnoxious class warfarist,and their newest political identity grouping, the environmentalists.
Oh yeah, these are also the same people who used to say ‘I hope I die before I get old’ and ‘never trust anyone over 35′ yet today they are old convincing themselves that 60 is the new 16.
To me as one having rode the tail end of the baby boomer generation never was born a more worthless generation.
The baby-boomers partied all their lives but now the party is over and they will awake to one hell of a hangover.
The worst will be the old hags in the feminist sisterhood who encouraged women to kill their children on behalf of ‘enjoying their life in the moment’. These women will be the ones looking around and demanding someone take care of them in their old age unfortunately, these are the very women who aborted an entire generation out of existence.