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> Much like the debt isn't being "left to their children" - the children will likely choose not to pay it, it isn't written in stone. What form do you think th

> Much like the debt isn't being "left to their children" - the children will likely choose not to pay it, it isn't written in stone. What form do you think this debt takes, that the children can choose not to pay it? A big part of this debt is a bunch of elderly people who feel they have paid into "the system" their whole working lives, and now they need their cancer treated, their hip replaced, their cataracts treated, their heart problems treated, their slips trips and falls treated, their strokes treated, their dementia treated, and so on. And it turns out the system wasn't building up a balance all those years they were "paying in" - actually, the money was spent as soon as it came in. Every one of these elderly people has a vote. And every single young person has elderly people as their parents. To me it seems unlikely any politician would get elected with a policy of 'choosing not to pay' for healthcare for the elderly.

roenxi 3y ago
If the elderly take on the entire productive economy, they will lose. The reserves aren't there to do that. There isn't an English speaking economy that can afford that level of debt, and the old can try to compel the young but they don't have the number of healthy bodies that would be needed to win. We're dealing with law vs. reality on this one. Reality has a big edge. A broke millennial living in their rental apartment with a lousy job cannot cure their parents of cancer and doesn't have the time to look after them. It does not, physically, work. The boomers should have spent their efforts setting up a good medical system instead of trusting it all to their feelings and not investing anything. Maybe it will all work out. That'd be nice. I assume a lot of people will have pretty miserable retirements and in hindsight they should have been a bit more fiscally responsible in their politics.
hirako2000 3y ago
Not sure what health care costs represent in a budget of elderlies, surely a lot. But not even a quarter of all this dept is to cover health care provided to retired contributors. Just look at the ratio the entire health sector represents. Yes the system hasn't been balanced, but all that "money"- went into so many other things old generations have accumulated. Stock (at a decently valued purchased price, not the hyper bubbled dollar per share the stock markets trend at these days). Real Estate, and real estate and real estate. A few % of the elderly sit on wealth worthy hundreds of millions, billions of dollars worth of property. Taking rents while workers indirectly pay that rent in everything they consume, not just to live somewhere. Not paying the debt while still catering to eldery's health is an option. It would just deprive some of them from wealth they wouldn't even have time to spend in 100 life times in medical bills plus everything else. The debt problem will likely be solved along with the property valuation non sense. Health care is, almost, a non issue in comparison.
bryanlarsen 3y ago
Inflation is the mechanism by which wealth and power is transferred from the old to the young. Now you understand why our recent bout of inflation has been weaponized to become enemy #1.
- ttyprintk 3y ago
  I think a more widespread opinion is that inflation is a wealth transfer to borrowers from lenders. Households borrowing in the form of a mortgage might lend in the form of a savings account. Older people access income through entitlement programs, without borrowing. I think this supports your argument better, that certain media lie about inflation because very few of their captive audience are borrowers.
  - bryanlarsen 3y ago
    Seniors who are living on entitlement programs are the ones likely the hardest hit by inflation, and they're neither lenders nor borrowers.
    - ttyprintk 3y ago
      I think seniors are lenders, recovering their investments from mutual funds. They’re only hard-hit when their retirement accounts failed to outpace inflation. The usual pattern is to move from stocks to bonds, so we observe seniors grappling with the performance of bonds. We don’t look deeper to see their speculative lending into the stock boom of 1980-2000.
      - bryanlarsen 3y ago
        Some seniors are lenders, living off their retirement savings. Some seniors are living without retirement savings, living on $1200/month of social security.

roenxi 3y ago

If the elderly take on the entire productive economy, they will lose. The reserves aren't there to do that. There isn't an English speaking economy that can afford that level of debt, and the old can try to compel the young but they don't have the number of healthy bodies that would be needed to win. We're dealing with law vs. reality on this one. Reality has a big edge. A broke millennial living in their rental apartment with a lousy job cannot cure their parents of cancer and doesn't have the time to look after them. It does not, physically, work. The boomers should have spent their efforts setting up a good medical system instead of trusting it all to their feelings and not investing anything. Maybe it will all work out. That'd be nice. I assume a lot of people will have pretty miserable retirements and in hindsight they should have been a bit more fiscally responsible in their politics.

hirako2000 3y ago

Not sure what health care costs represent in a budget of elderlies, surely a lot. But not even a quarter of all this dept is to cover health care provided to retired contributors. Just look at the ratio the entire health sector represents. Yes the system hasn't been balanced, but all that "money"- went into so many other things old generations have accumulated. Stock (at a decently valued purchased price, not the hyper bubbled dollar per share the stock markets trend at these days). Real Estate, and real estate and real estate. A few % of the elderly sit on wealth worthy hundreds of millions, billions of dollars worth of property. Taking rents while workers indirectly pay that rent in everything they consume, not just to live somewhere. Not paying the debt while still catering to eldery's health is an option. It would just deprive some of them from wealth they wouldn't even have time to spend in 100 life times in medical bills plus everything else. The debt problem will likely be solved along with the property valuation non sense. Health care is, almost, a non issue in comparison.

bryanlarsen 3y ago

Inflation is the mechanism by which wealth and power is transferred from the old to the young. Now you understand why our recent bout of inflation has been weaponized to become enemy #1.

ttyprintk 3y ago
I think a more widespread opinion is that inflation is a wealth transfer to borrowers from lenders. Households borrowing in the form of a mortgage might lend in the form of a savings account. Older people access income through entitlement programs, without borrowing. I think this supports your argument better, that certain media lie about inflation because very few of their captive audience are borrowers.
- bryanlarsen 3y ago
  Seniors who are living on entitlement programs are the ones likely the hardest hit by inflation, and they're neither lenders nor borrowers.
  - ttyprintk 3y ago
    I think seniors are lenders, recovering their investments from mutual funds. They’re only hard-hit when their retirement accounts failed to outpace inflation. The usual pattern is to move from stocks to bonds, so we observe seniors grappling with the performance of bonds. We don’t look deeper to see their speculative lending into the stock boom of 1980-2000.
    - bryanlarsen 3y ago
      Some seniors are lenders, living off their retirement savings. Some seniors are living without retirement savings, living on $1200/month of social security.