cover image Born to Pay: The New Politics of Aging in America

Born to Pay: The New Politics of Aging in America

Phillip Longman, Philip Longman. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), $17.45 (308pp) ISBN 978-0-395-38369-8

Longman here analyzes the American economy in terms of entitlement programs for the old (Social Security, Medicare, etc.), which are paid for by the young. As the baby-boom generation marches toward retirement, and as human longevity increases every year, it will be impossible to sustain current benefits, the author warns. He poses related dilemmas: Will a higher rate of personal savings fight inflation or bring on recession? Is a ""Buy Now'' (on credit) outlook better than old-time thrift morality? Does immigration add capital or drain income? Regardless of the answers, he notes, the pension tab awaits payment. Although Longman seems to touch all bases, his assumptive certitudes about the future are potentially flawed, like Jefferson's agricultural millennium (to every man a farm) or the prophecies heard since World War II of another Great Depression. Longman is a consultant to AGE, a Washington, D.C., lobby group. (August 28)