The Little Brown Reader

The 44 Trillion Dollar Question (part 1)

The 44 Trillion Dollar Question (part 1)
by Joey B. King

In case you have not heard, the Bush Administration is suppressing a report commissioned by the US Treasury Department. The report estimates that the financial obligations of the federal government for the next 75 years to be at least $44 trillion measured in 2002 dollars. The "baby boom" generation will most certainly break the bank with future healthcare and retirement entitlements. To meet this financial obligation would require an immediate and permanent 66% increase in the federal income tax across the board.

I know what I am about to say may not sound Libertarian to some, but I challenge anyone to come up with a politically viable solution (ending the SS today program is not a winnable political solution). What if federal office buildings were converted to condos and given to the retirees instead of cash. A similar program brought many of my family members, who were unpaid American Revolutionary War veterans, to Tennessee. The government gave them land-oftentimes sight unseen- as compensation. It was the only choice then, and it very well may be the only choice 20 years form now.

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