Bipartisanship Needed To Avoid Spending Crisis As Baby Boomers Enroll In Medicare, Social Security, Opinion Piece States

“The next election, in 2008, will be the first of 10 to take place against the backdrop of millions of [Baby] Boomers rolling onto the old-age benefit rolls” of Medicare and Social Security, Richard Fairbanks, a former White House official, and Paul Hewitt, chair and executive director of Americans for Generational Equity, write in a Washington Times opinion piece. “In the meantime — before too many Boomers retire, thereby rendering themselves too needy to share in the adjustment costs — we had better engage our children in a serious dialogue on the future of the generational contract,” they write, adding, “It is fair to say most young people have no idea that, 25 years hence, their tax rates may need to be half again higher than ours; or that, on top of paying higher taxes and higher health insurance premiums, they will have to save more in order to shoulder a larger share of their own retirement costs; or that, even if they do so, the economic burdens on their own children may be higher still.” Fairbanks and Hewitt conclude, “There is still time to avert a train wreck, provided we get serious leadership for a change. By facing this historic challenge together, Democrats can confirm the wisdom of the electorate that gave them their congressional majorities, and the administration can prove the duck is not lame” (Fairbanks/Hewitt, Washington Times, 11/30).

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