I walked into the Economist Buttonwood Conference to hear Mitt Romney’s chief economic adviser– Glenn Hubbard, the Dean of Columbia Graduate School of Business– bluntly claim that the nation “cannot afford a large welfare state for everyone,” underscoring the brutal political fight to develop after Nov. election day over the extent of entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
More stunning yet was the revelation I
had not heard previously that unlike retired workers from the private
sector, there have never been funds set aside for benefits on behalf
several million federal government employees, especially members of all
the Armed Forces. There has never been any accumulation from their
compensation monthly pay checks to trust funds for Social Security or
Medicare that would protect them in retirement. This is an astonishing
and expensive hole in the safety network of a significant part of the
population.
To continue Reading, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment