James Pethokoukis

Ed Yardeni runs the numbers:

Nominal GDP rose at a compounded rate of 4.2% from 1999-2009. It isn’t likely to grow any faster over the next 10-20 years. However, extrapolating the same growth rate of per capita retirement spending (5.1%) and adding the higher projected growth of the senior population (3.0%) suggests that social welfare outlays might grow by 8%. That’s significantly higher than the likely growth of nominal GDP (say 5%). Since the tax base can’t grow faster than nominal GDP on a sustainable basis, something has to give on the per capita spending side.

I’m not sure how we are going to pay for the welfare needs of all the Baby Boom seniors. The only logical solution is to continue to extend the retirement age for beneficiaries. Bismarck invented social security and picked 65 as the retirement age figuring that few Prussians would live that long. Retirement is a rather modern concept. In the not too distant past, people worked until they couldn’t, and then passed away soon after. Now we are living into our 70s, 80s, and even 90s.