After the last debate on Monday night, we know both candidates for President ("Obamney") are willing to fight a war on behalf of Israel that could easily end in nuclear holocaust. Perhaps a dose of the reality charted here will make our militarized foreign policy less glibly justified:
By 2040 over twenty percent of the US population will be over 65 with fewer working age people between 20 and 64. That means the number of workers paying into Social Security for each beneficiary will go from 3 to 2. The number of adults aged 85 and older, the group most in need of medical care, will nearly quadruple between 2000 and 2040. The chart below shows the fiscal impact of these demographic changes:
Social Security will not experience a cash deficit until 2017 based on the 2007 Trustees' Report. Medicare Part A went into deficit in 2007. Projections show that the cash deficits will only get worse into the future because payroll tax revenues dedicated to these programs are insufficient to cover costs. The federal government will have to find a way to fund these programs and reduce costs. A single payer system is the best way to reduce healthcare costs as the Department of Veterans Affairs has demonstrated in bringing down the price it pays for prescription drugs. Cuts in other programs such as military spending, the largest category except entitlements will be necessary.
Payroll taxes are regressive, subject to cyclical reductions and impact the working classes the most. If the entitlement programs are to remain in existence, other tax revenues will have to be used. Romney wants to privatize social security by allowing people to speculate with their retirement funds in the Wall Street casino. Obamarama wants to reduce the deficits by inflation, a strategy which reduces the purchasing power of the non-capitalist.
US Person wants to increase revenues by taxing the rich with a surcharge on extreme wealth, a transaction tax on Wall Street, and cut costs by ending the military Keynesianism on which our current economic system is run. In short, the "Washington consensus" will bankrupt our nation.
