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January 05, 2006
Thomas Friedman in the January 4th New York Times
Quotes U.S. Comptroller David Walker:
USA Today recently quoted David Walker, the U.S. comptroller general, as saying we are about to be hit by "a demographic tsunami" that will "never recede." The baby boomers total 77 million, and their first wave turns 60 this year. Unless we trim the Medicare and Social Security benefits promised to these boomers, the paper noted, America's "national debt will grow more than $3 trillion through 2010, to $11.2 trillion. The interest alone would cost $561 billion in 2010, the same as the Pentagon [budget]."
The same as the Pentagon's! So either Social Security and Medicare shrink or the Pentagon shrinks -- because higher taxes seem to be out of the question for now. If history is any guide, Americans will prefer Social Security and Medicare over paying to make the world safe for China, India, Russia and Iran to pursue their interests.
If so, the world may soon test out one of the most important theses of Mr. Mandelbaum's book: that the greatest threat to global stability is "not too much American power, but too little."
Posted by Chris Schrimpf at January 5, 2006 09:39 AM
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