The magnitude of future government obligations to fund Social Security payments for the retiring baby-boom generation and the growing costs of providing medical care to the elderly add to the urgency to put government debt on a sustainable long-term path. Doing so sooner rather than later would make the necessary adjustments easier and diminish the likelihood of significant future economic disruptions.
Some observers have also stressed the importance of large economic shocks, such as the oil price shock of the early 1970s, in bringing periods of rapid productivity growth to an end. It seems possible that the recent run-ups in energy prices, and the fact that markets expect much of them to be permanent, could reduce productivity growth by rendering energy-intensive technologies and capital obsolete.