Boomers and the Bust: The Generational Civil War
The baby boomers are a generation that will effect that way that the United States views social programs. New Deal policies were not meant to deal with a population heavily weighted toward the elderly. While Democrats cling to the New Deal they need to take a step back and realize that some major changes will be needed in the near term, if the United States is to stay a superpower………. which it will. Recently the CBO looked at currrent budget projections and discussed the possible effects that inaction regarding entitlement reform (New Deal Reform) will have on the economy. They start off,
“Under current law, rising costs for health care and the aging of the population will cause federal spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security to rise substantially as a share of the economy. If tax revenues as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) remain at current levels, that additional spending will eventually cause future budget deficits to become unsustainable. To prevent those deficits from growing to levels that could impose substantial costs on the economy, the choices are limited: Revenues must rise as a share of GDP, projected spending must fall, or both.”
Many people don’t realize the impending necessity for change. Politicians would have you believe that everything will be alright. It won’t. Something needs to be done, and the sooner that it is done the better. Whether that is cutting benefits and cutting spending in other places, raising taxes will only exacerbate the problem and deepen the generational civil war that is inevitable. Record budget deficits will cause devastating effects that will devastate the economy if they don’t destroy it,
“CBO projected ….. spending on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security would rise rapidly, and federal outlays excluding interest (primary spending) would climb from about 18 percent of GDP in 2007 to 28 percent in 2050 and to 35 percent in 2082. Because the scenario also assumes that revenues as a share of GDP would not increase much over the 75-year period, CBO projected that the federal budget deficit and federal debt held by the public would rise sharply. By CBO’s reckoning, federal debt under that scenario would climb from about 37 percent of GDP in fiscal year 2007 to more than 290 percent in 2050—a large figure by any standard (see Figure 1). Since the founding of the United States, federal debt surpassed 100 percent of GDP only for a brief period during and just after World War II.”
This rise in debt causes an economic death spiral that is almost irreparable once it begins. While politicians that attempt to fix the system get shot down because they are anti-public welfare, the real culprits, the real anti-public welfare candidates are the snipers that keep taking the idea people down merely for pointing out a problem. Not everyone needs to agree, they don’t even need to come to a solution today….this month…..this quarter…..this year…..or this Congress, but are leaders need to start having this conversation now! Today! This very minute! If they don’t CBO has some predictions,
Budget deficits that grow faster than the economy ultimately become unsustainable. As the government attempts to finance its interest payments by issuing more debt, the rise in deficits accelerates. That, in turn, leads to a vicious circle in which the government issues ever-larger amounts of debt in order to pay ever-higher interest charges. In the end, the costs of servicing the debt outstrip the economic resources available for financing those expenditures. At some point, then, policy has to change: Taxes must be raised, spending must be reduced, or both.
