The holdings by the European Central Bank, which started making such purchases in 2010, represented 2.2 percent of nominal GDP. Such a significant scale of government bond purchases entails risk, to which more attention needs to be paid.
If fewer resources will be available per retiree than promised under current law, those in their later working years need sufficient time to adjust their work and retirement decisions. Crafting a budget strategy that meets the nation's longer-run needs will become ever more difficult and costly the more we delay.