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Debt doesn't concern me. As another poster said "The total government debt = total private sector savings, to the last cent. That is an accounting truth". What

Debt doesn't concern me. As another poster said "The total government debt = total private sector savings, to the last cent. That is an accounting truth". What does concern me is obligations - specifically underfunded public pension obligations. There is no accounting balance here - a day of reckoning will surely come. "Mitchell and Friedberg warned that the pension hole will swallow public- and private-sector employees alike, because all income earners will pay for it. Mitchell ran a simple calculation to illustrate her point: If the shortfall were $5 trillion, divide that amount by the 158 million workers in the American labor force for an obligation of about $32,000 per worker." http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-time-bomb-inside-public-pension-plans/ http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/the-time-bomb-ins...

afterburner 8y ago
> public pension obligations. There is no accounting balance here - a day of reckoning will surely come. These scare stories are solved by a modest rise in taxes. The obligations are summed over many decades and projected into the future.
- assblaster 8y ago
  Modest rise in taxes... Across the board to person in the United States? To only the 50% of people who are taxpayers? To only the top 10% who pay 70% of the taxes already? Tax those who do not generate income traditionally but rather earn based on investments? Seizure of personal assets? Depending on how you go about this, you could create economic stagnation because of burdensome pension programs. Alternatively, you could cut benefits, or privatize the investments rather than simple redistribution from one payroll tax payer to one pensioner. I'm in favor of privatization combined with benefit reduction and increased minimum retirement age. The combination of these three could easily solve any pension shortfall and generate long term wealth for every American.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

afterburner 8y ago

> public pension obligations. There is no accounting balance here - a day of reckoning will surely come. These scare stories are solved by a modest rise in taxes. The obligations are summed over many decades and projected into the future.

assblaster 8y ago
Modest rise in taxes... Across the board to person in the United States? To only the 50% of people who are taxpayers? To only the top 10% who pay 70% of the taxes already? Tax those who do not generate income traditionally but rather earn based on investments? Seizure of personal assets? Depending on how you go about this, you could create economic stagnation because of burdensome pension programs. Alternatively, you could cut benefits, or privatize the investments rather than simple redistribution from one payroll tax payer to one pensioner. I'm in favor of privatization combined with benefit reduction and increased minimum retirement age. The combination of these three could easily solve any pension shortfall and generate long term wealth for every American.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]