Krugman says "The Geezers Are All Right"
by which he means that the threat to the economic future of the United States supposedly posed by Social Security and Medicare is diminishing - for a variety of reasons - at least to the point where we should stop obsessing about that and focus on the real economic needs of our nation, which of course means the creation of jobs.
In this New York Times column, he begins with the CBO projections for deficits and debt which clearly show improvement, noting the lamentations from the austerians caused by dropping deficits (many have now noted the deficit has already dropped by more than what the austerians were demanding and debt is stabilizing). HE writes of the response of the deficit hawks
In this New York Times column, he begins with the CBO projections for deficits and debt which clearly show improvement, noting the lamentations from the austerians caused by dropping deficits (many have now noted the deficit has already dropped by more than what the austerians were demanding and debt is stabilizing). HE writes of the response of the deficit hawks
if you’ve built your career around proclamations of imminent fiscal doom, this definitely wasn’t the report you wanted to see.He then pivots to the safety net programs for seniors. asking a rhetorical question and answering it:
Still, we can always count on the baby boomers to deliver disaster, can’t we? Doesn’t the rising tide of retirees mean that Social Security and Medicare are doomed unless we radically change those programs now now now?Maybe not.It is that Maybe not that SHOULD be key to any future discussions about benefit cuts.