"Are the good times really over for good?" asked Merle Haggard in his 1982 lament.
Then, the good times weren't over. In fact, they were coming back, with the Reagan recovery, the renewal of the American spirit and the end of a Cold War that had consumed so much of our lives.
Yet whoever wins today, it is hard to be sanguine about the future.
The demographic and economic realities do not permit it.
Consider. Between 1946 and 1964, 79 million babies were born – the largest, best-educated and most successful generation in our history.
Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both born in 1946, were in that first class of baby boomers.
The problem.
Assume that 75 million of these 79 million boomers survive to age 66. This means that from this year through 2030, an average of nearly 4 million boomers will be retiring every year. This translates into some 11,000 boomers becoming eligible for Medicare and Social Security every single day for the next 18 years.
2 comments:
Those numbers don't mean much to most people. Either they can't understand the math and its implications, don't care, or think the "government" (like THAT entity has ANY money) will magically fix it. And as usual, nothing will be done. The problem grows and trouble is ahead -- in terms of social, economic, and political upheaval. Can't go any other way. Don't think so? Ask yourself why a CIVILIAN government agency would need 1.3 BILLION rounds of high powered rifle ammo? Of course, that's just one agency...
The logic here appears to be all right, but the word "assume" (a possibility not in evidence) throws a monkey wrench into the whole argument.
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