Columnist Robert Samuelson of Newsweek and The Washington Post wrote a biting commentary the other day about how the presidential candidates are ignoring the issue of an aging population.
His belief is that the transformation happening in America is not only inevitable, it is obvious and predictable and requires immediate attention. From 2005 to 2030 the population of people over the age of 65 in the U.S. is expected to double to over 70 million. Despite the facts, no one seeking public office has anything to say about the impact this will have on two of the largest government programs in existence: Social Security and Medicare.
Samuelson goes on to observe that while politicians aren't willing to get near this hot potato, at least the "think tanks" should be all over it. But, alas, he reports that they really aren't doing their job.
He challenges them to band together, three liberal and three conservative think tanks, and put forth what each thinks should be done now. He's given them until April of next year to publish their opinions. Then, the challenge falls to each party's candidate to address it in their campaign.
We've predicted in the book that Boomers will be the ones to solve both Social Security and Medicare before they go belly-up. Maybe this is an important step in the process -- some public gauntlet throwing.
Way to go, Bob.
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