Friday's edition of The Wall Street Journal (November 12, on page A2) included an article describing what makes dismal scientists dismal.
In a survey of 55 economists by The Wall Street Journal Online, more than half say the budget deficit will be the biggest economic challenge in the next four years, and one in three say it should be Mr. Bush's top priority. By contrast, one in four said a tax overhaul should be the top priority and one in six said Social Security changes should be at the top of the President's list.
Apparently, they didn't read (Nobel Economic Prize winner) Ed Prescott's Thursday November 11 editorial, which began
Of all the economic issues facing Washington these days, one looms larger and larger as more time passes without a solution -- how to fund our Social Security obligations.
And they certainly don't seem to be paying attention to this, from economist Laurence Kotlikoff and Dallas Morning News columnist Scott Burns:
Conventional politics is an unending argument about Haves and Have-Nots. Are the haves getting more? Is it too much? Why isn't there more sharing with the Have-Nots. The Haves/Have-Nots argument works to completely obscure another discussion: the Nows and the Laters. We're the Nows; our children and our grandchildren are the Laters. Decade after decade, the Nows have taken from the Laters. Unfortunately, this fiscal child abuse, like the psychological kind, is hard to spot. But measure it we can, and [to] measure it we will [be] using a relatively new method, called generational accounting. Doing do leads to the following bottom line: Unless we adults make very large sacrifices very quickly, our kids will face lifetime net tax rates that are twice those we face!
... Another way to characterize the findings is to calculate the immediate and permanent federal personal and corporate income tax hike needed to achieve generational balance-- the equalization of lifetime tax rates facing current and future generations. Brace yourself. The requisite tax hike is a whopping 69 percent!
So there!
(If you are wondering about the generational accounting concept, this article is a good place to start.)