Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Eating Our Young, Killing Our Old

 

Part of this “growth” manifests itself in taking care of the young. What social scientists call “generativity,” or providing for future generations, is important to the well-being of older Americans.

The big exception to this “generativity” is politics, in particular government spending. Here, instead of the old providing for the young, it’s the other way around. The federal government spends $7 on the elderly for every $1 it spends on the young.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. In 2009, “every last penny of federal tax revenue” went to pay for entitlements, which overwhelming favor the elderly. Think about it-every penny raised by taxes, the rest paid by deficits.

About 25 years ago now, Governor Richard Lamb of Colorado said that the elderly have a “duty to die.” People were rightly horrified when he said that. But that horror might not survive the future economic crisis Brooks writes about.

Eating Our Young, Killing Our Old | Christianpost.com

Comments: Hey old guy, if you think they are not coming after you, think again. You are consuming the resources without being productive. We are accustomed to this as Marxist thinking but now Conservatives can see the wisdom of it. Yes, the Conservatives will feel badly about it, but they will understand it, never-the-less. A crashing economy will demand it.

Does this prove Capitalism fails? It proves Collectivism will worm its way into Capitalism and kill it. At least it will kill Democratic Capitalism. Voters will too often fall prey to entitlement dispensing, power grabbing promise givers.

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