6.3.10
In a great op-ed piece in the New York Times, Hedge Fund Manager David Einhorn lays out the challenges facing us all – summed up by this beauty of a phrase:
Are you worried that we are passing our debt on to future generations? Well, you need not worry.
Before this recession it appeared that absent action, the government’s long-term commitments would become a problem in a few decades. I believe the government response to the recession has created budgetary stress sufficient to bring about the crisis much sooner. Our generation — not our grandchildren’s — will have to deal with the consequences.
Our current generation is so greedy they’ve managed to make a future budgetary problem quite current. Read more here:
One interesting tidbit, and factor in why local government spending is out of control:
Public sector jobs used to offer greater job security but lower pay. Not anymore. In 2008, according to the Cato Institute, the average federal civilian salary with benefits was $119,982, compared with $59,909 for the average private sector worker; the disparity has grown enormously over the last decade.
