Bernanke: Baby Boomers Will Strain U.S. (the sky is blue alert)

AP ^

[SDGOP]

Ay caramba

[MNJohnnie]

Ah that is a misquote. He said they would stain US. Guess no one told him about Bill Clinton.

[Jedidah]

You have a problem with what he said?

[fourmation599]

Should read.... Illegal immigration threatens retirements of baby boomers.

[KarlInOhio]

As the population ages, the nation will have to choose among higher taxes, less non-entitlement spending by the government, a reduction in spending on entitlement programs, a sharply higher budget deficit or some combination thereof, Bernanke said.

Meanwhile our political leaders stick their fingers in their ears and say "la-la-la-la-la-I'm not listening-la-la-la-la-la".

[SDGOP]

No, i have no problem with what he said. My problem is all these baby boomers who didnt plan for retirement and are goin to screw my generation over by demanding we pay for theirs.

[MrEdd]

If history is any indicator, no they won't.

Too many Boomers sucking on social services will cause the cessation of social services, just like in The Wiemar Republic. Hopefully without a dictatorship, but the abandonment of large elderly populations with little intimate connection to the younger generations is not a new happenstance, and the consequences are not going to be something new either.

[redgolum]

I have a feeling, horrible as it is, that the cries for euthanasia will be increased because of this.

<.sarcasm>What better way to care for the old then by removing all their burdens?</.sarcasm>

[Jaysun]

Finally, this man opens his mouth and something other than unadulterated and destructive bullshit comes out. "Baby boomers" are a red herring, they aren't the problem. Haven't they been paying into these socialist programs for half a century now? Where's their money? The problem isn't the baby boomers, it's the programs themselves. They're set up and operate in the same way that a chain letter is set up and operates. They're unsustainable.

[roses of sharon]

The President tried to talk about this, the Whining Baby Boomers said no.

Have the Whining Baby Boomers ever been told no?

[groanup]

bump

[Spirochete]

As the population ages, the nation will have to choose among higher taxes, less non-entitlement spending by the government, a reduction in spending on entitlement programs, a sharply higher budget deficit or some combination thereof, Bernanke said.

I vote for option three.

[Kenton]

I planned for retirement, but it included social security and medicare. After all, I paid into those all my working life. I wouldn't starve without them, unless I got a serious illness, in which case my savings would get eaten up pretty quickly.

We need to find a way to phase things our gracefully, so that we don't get screwed too bad and you don't get screwed too bad. The problem is that those things were publicly financed instead of private.

I understand your self-interest, but I'm sure you don't want to cut out medicare and have your parents wind up in the poor house because of unexpected medical bills wiping out their savings. After all, when they paid their taxes for that, they thought it was like insurance.

What do you suggest?

[tennmountainman]

Berneke left out the most obvious option.... and one that should be added.

START BRINGING IN ILLEGALS BY THE TRAINLOADS AND THEY WILL PAY THE
BENEFITS OF RETIRING BABYBOOMERS. (SAC OFF)

[truth_seeker]

"My problem is all these baby boomers who didnt plan for retirement and are goin to screw my generation over by demanding we pay for theirs."

Why don't you PROVE that baby boomers "didn't plan for retirement" to a greater extent than other generations?

Baby boomers, who have paid for earlier generations' retirements all their working lives, don't whine like you do.

[SDGOP]

For one thing, give benefits to people on it now, and drastically cut benefits for people who won't be collecting it for some time. This way thep eople who are on it now aren't screwed, and people decades down the line will have no choice but to come up with a way to take care of themselves.

[litehaus]

Can no person say....PONZI SCHEME?

[LZ_Bayonet]

"No, i have no problem with what he said. My problem is all these baby boomers who didnt plan for retirement and are goin to screw my generation over by demanding we pay for theirs."

May I amend your statement?

No, I have no problem with what he said. My problem is all these baby boomers who didn't plan for retirement and are goin to screw my generation, AND THE BABY BOOMERS WHO DID PLAN FOR RETIREMENT, over by demanding we pay for theirs.

[what's up]

As the population ages, the nation will have to choose among higher taxes, less non-entitlement spending by the government a reduction in spending on entitlement programs, , a sharply higher budget deficit or some combination thereof, Bernanke said.

I pick the highlighted item.

[SDGOP]

You forget, that you baby boomers who paid all your life paid MUCH LOWER rates. Today tax rates are high, and they will get higher. There's a big difference there. If you want proof baby boomers didn't plan for retirement, only 1/4th of people over the age of 50 have savings of 250k+, 1/3rd have nothing, the rest have a median of around 10k or so i think. That sounds like a lot of planning if you ask me.

Make no mistake, if something isn't done to solve this problem quickly there will be a massive young vs old crisis in our society. Young people just aren't going to tolerate tax rates in the 60's and 70's to bankroll people just sitting around for 30 or 40 years.