The Change Mariner

Boomers Bust Budget

San Francisco Chornicle:

It's not so much the gaping $521 billion federal budget deficit forecast for 2004 by the Bush administration Monday that's got economists fretting about the nation's fiscal future. Nor is it the $2.4 trillion shortfall projected by the Congressional Budget Office over the next 10 years.

What really makes budget experts break out in a cold sweat is the vision of what happens 10, 15 and more years from now. That's when an unimaginably large tide of red ink could wash over the economy as the federal government pays the retirement and medical costs of Baby Boomers.

"Any observer looking at the deficits the CBO projects would probably be alarmed, but they are nothing compared to what occurs after," said UC Berkeley economist Janet Yellen, a former Federal Reserve governor. "We have a huge long-term problem."

Posted by Timothy Fredel at February 3, 2004 10:05 PM | TrackBack
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