Ask Democrats why they support open borders, and they will invariably respond: "Because we need immigrants to pay for our pensions." This argument is a sham. The data are conclusive: immigration will not save America's welfare system. It will bleed it dry.
John Cassidy sums up the sham argument in his piece for the New Yorker:
Demographers and economists have been warning that the aging baby-boomer population presents a serious challenge to the nation's finances, as the ratio of seniors to working-age adults – the age-dependency ratio – rises. The reason is straightforward: Social Security and Medicare are largely financed on a pay-as-you-go basis, which means that some of the taxes paid by current workers are transferred to current retirees. If the dependency ratio rises, the financial burden on the working-age population also increases.
Cassidy's diagnosis of the problem is correct. America's population is aging, and this is a problem because America's welfare state is structured like a giant Ponzi scheme. Although taxpayers contribute to the system throughout their lives, they never see this money. Instead, they pay for the previous generation's retirement with assurances that the next generation will pay for theirs. Welfare is a vampire that requires fresh blood to survive. This is the root of Cassidy's error.........To Read More.....
No comments:
Post a Comment