weblog/wEssays     archives     home   Correspondant Michael
Goodfellow has graciously allowed me to reprint his analysis of
the looming Social Security funding crisis.  The net result: the
crisis isn't decades away--it's only a few years away. Read on
to see why. (emphasis added in bold is mine.)  Michael tells me
the statistics were assembled a year ago, but I don't think
newer data would affect his analysis; the forces being measured
are the demographics of the baby boom, which were set in the
period 1946-1964. The only variable is when Boomers retire--at
62 or 66--and that will not materially change the dire financial
circumstances we face.  The accompanying charts are not
Michael's, but they provide graphic representations of the
problem he so ably describes.  Here is his analysis: It's hard
to make heads or tails of the current debate over Social
Security. Sometimes it seems like you just have to find an
editorial you like the sound of and trust it. After all, how
could you know anything personally abou