E*TRADE Financial Corporation Message Board

bottom line is than those younger than 55 when the gop gets its way will pay for an unchanged medicare and social security for the geezers BUT ...... they will get screwed by the austerity pumping billionaire crowd. Oh well.
the fact is:

Debt, Deficits, and Demographics: Why We Can Afford the Social Contract

November 2012, Dean Baker

The emphasis on budget deficits in national policy debates over the last three decades has badly distorted national priorities. There has been an enormous amount of fundamentally confused thinking on budget deficits that has made its way into mainstream political debates. This paper shows that the potential harm from budget deficits has been seriously misrepresented and it is implausible that future generations of workers will see a decline in living standards due to the effects of an aging population................

The first section of this paper discusses the economy’s recent growth and projected future growth. It compares the projected gains from continued growth and contrasts these with the impact of an aging population. Under any plausible scenario, the benefits from growth will swamp any negative impact on living standards from an aging population.

The second section examines how deficits can pose a drain on the economy. Specifically, it will point out the distinction between a deficit when the economy is near full employment and a deficit run when the economy has a large number of unemployed workers and a large amount of excess capacity. In the latter case, there is really no way that the deficit can be seen as imposing a drain on the economy. In fact, deficits in the latter case are likely to increase the well-being of future generations.