USA Today’s Dennis Cauchon wrote an insightful front-page story today showing that the cost of government benefits for seniors reached $27,289 per senior in 2007. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits continue to grow much faster than inflation, and as 77 million baby boomers reach retirement in the coming decades, the taxpayer costs of these programs will be enormous. The article highlights the fact that these programs are unsustainable in their current form and that we are on the leading edge of a large intergenerational transfer of wealth from younger …
The United States passed a generational milestone yesterday when 62-year-old Kathleen Casey-Kirschling became the first baby boomer to receive a Social Security payment. A life-long Democrat, Casey-Kirschling (pictured to the right on her yacht) proudly told reporters from her winter home in Vero Beach, Fla., “I trust Social Security.” A summer resident of Earleville, Md., Casey-Kirschling is the first of an estimated 7,900 baby boomers turning 62 each day this year — making them eligible for the federal retirement benefits averaging $1,079 a month. If only those who studied our …
Only 19 days after credit rating service Moody’s announced the United States was at risk of losing its top-notch triple-A credit rating due to soaring healthcare and social security spending, Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) said he would “insist” his committee vote on a proposal to create a bipartisan commission to study the long-term fiscal problem proposed by Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. BNA (subscription required) reports that Conrad “was adamant” fellow Senators vote on his plan to create a 16-member commission in 2008. The panel would consist of …
President Bush’s State of the Union message once again calls on Congress to address the coming tsunami of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs. With 77 million baby boomers retiring, the ratio of taxpaying workers to retirees will fall to just 2:1. In the absence of reform, America would have to choose between permanently raising taxes by more than $11,000 per household, or eliminating every remaining federal program to fund those new costs. Congress should follow the President’s lead and create a bipartisan commission to come up with fast-track legislation …
Last year Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and ranking Republican Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) proposed legislation to create a task force to study the long-term fiscal problem and propose solutions. Given that spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is set to double over the next 25 years, something must be done about the growth in entitlement spending. Although there has been some reluctance on the part of others (including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) to create the task force, CQ reports that Budget Committee members hope …
