If there are more than 3 workers contributing to Social Security for every beneficiary, how will less than 2 workers be able to pay for more as the Baby Boom retires?
How is Zika etc... going to affect the ability of smaller generations
to support all the nice things we've promised ourselves
to be paid for by our children?
Was it justifiable for the baby boom to promise themselves tens of trillions of unfunded benefits, like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, for future generations to pay for?
Human beings are… of two persuasions
the first would spend tomorrow what they earn today
the second would spend today what they hope to earn tomorrow
From this…arise all conflicts that lead to economic crises
to panics, depressions, violent and revolutionary transfers of wealth
and perhaps most wars
Freeman Tilden
If workers earn, pay taxes, spend, save and invest while retirees divest, downsize, budget and draw income and healthcare benefits, what’s going to happen when more retirees want what fewer workers may not be able to deliver?
Are Baby Boomers going to get more or less than they think, if the supply of what they want to sell exceeds demand, as they exchange assets for needed goods and services at relatively the same time?
There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom
brought on by credit expansion
The question is only whether the crisis should come sooner
as a result of abandonment of credit expansion
or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved
Ludwig von Mises
Most financial industry economists considered warnings of financial bubbles unproven, non-existent or exaggerated until afterward.
If there are at least 15,000 professional American economists, and less than 1% predicted the 2008/9 financial crisis, most financial industry economic prognostications appear to be relatively useless.
If investment returns are dependent on rising home values and liquidity supplied by new and existing investors, what should happen if incoming investment slows and lack of liquidity creates a confidence crisis?
Ponzi finance units must increase outstanding debt
in order to meet financial obligations
A transition occurs over the course of an expansion
as increasingly risky positions are validated by the booming economy
that renders the built in margins of error superfluous
encouraging adoption of riskier positions
Eventually, either financing costs rise
or income comes in below expectations
leading to defaults on payment commitments
Hyman Minsky
The federal government stabilized the economy by borrowing from relatively younger American's and their children who may not reap the prosperity of their parents.
Corruption of the political, capitalist and information systems negatively influenced economic performance and consumer behavior through legislation, budget appropriation, regulation and taxation to benefit a few at the expense of many.
A democracy will continue to exist
up until the time that voters discover
that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury
From that moment on
the majority always votes for the candidates
who promise the most benefits…
with the result that every democracy
will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy…
…nations always progressed through the following sequence
From bondage to spiritual faith
from spiritual faith to great courage
from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance
from abundance to complacency
from complacency to apathy
from apathy to dependence
from dependence back into bondage
Unknown
If Bernard Madoff distributed money from wealthy newer investors to pay earlier investors until there wasn't enough money to continue, does the US government operate under the same structure with mandatory participation for all?
Socioeconomic disharmonies will likely increase.
