The Generation Gap

Whatever budget agreement finally emerges from Congress and the White House, it can be counted on to continue the rapid growth in spending for Social Security and other programs for those 65 and older. Which means that it is almost certain to widen the gap between what the government spends on the elderly and what it spends on children.

Nearly half of all nonmilitary federal spending is devoted to people 65 and over. That in itself is hardly objectionable. For many years, the elderly had ; the nation's highest rate of poverty, a situation no caring society should tolerate. But since...

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