The Retirement Demograpic Problem...

I've been aware for many years that one of the main challenges with “pay as you go” retirement systems (like Social Security) is that there are far fewer working people per retired person today than back in the '30s when the system was established.  That fact dictates that the taxes paid by those working must increase to pay for the retired people.

Without really thinking about it much, I'd always assumed that this change was caused simply by the fact that people today live longer than people used to, and therefore have longer retirements.  This is definitely true, and is a component of the issue - but it turns out that the biggest reason is something else altogether: young people today have fewer babies (great animated graphic at the link) .  That's the single largest reason for this particular demographic change.

Social Security Reform Bill...

The Onion is a national treasure...