The second of our great long-term challenges are our huge debt and entitlement obligations.
This wasn't exactly the Swimsuit Issue, and nine seemed a weird number, as if the author had left room for one more disaster T.B.D.: perhaps government default, or, if you'd prefer, crushing entitlement obligations.
And except for Barack Obama's proposal that the wealthy pay more in payroll taxes, none have been so bold as to suggest that the government meet its entitlement obligations by raising its take on them.
The Web site of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation flashes a frightening fiscal fact: The looming retirement of 78 million baby boomers has generated unpaid entitlement obligations that are triple the size of the entire economy — $175,000 for each American.
And with only modest government funds we could foster public-private partnerships to rebuild this country's often crumbling infrastructure, refashion immigration policy to give preference for visas and green cards to many more immigrants with advanced degrees and needed skills, and above all reduce long-term entitlement obligations, cutting the ratio of public debt to G.D.P.
"Given the outlook for the economy, the cost of restoring a smoothly functioning financial system and the pending entitlement obligations to retiring baby boomers," a report from the committee said, "the fiscal outlook is one of rapidly increasing debt in the years ahead".
We have a very bad future ahead of us --aging demographics, job loss, entitlement obligations.
Meanwhile, our growing public debt and entitlement obligations foretell ever-shrinking defense budgets.
Consequently we are drowning in a rising tide of red ink and face a tsunami of unfunded entitlement obligations.
Information will change minds, but for those who don't read and think the sea change will occur when Congress is forced to default on entitlement obligations for Social Security and Medicare because it won't end the Bush tax cuts for the privileged or axe defense expenditures.
