Riding for a Fall

The article discusses the economical aspects of the United States' war on terrorism. It now seems nearly certain that the aging of the U.S. population--which would pose a massive fiscal challenge over the next few decades itself--will unfold in an era of large additional commitments to our nati...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Peterson, Peter G.
Format: Book
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520 # # |a The article discusses the economical aspects of the United States' war on terrorism. It now seems nearly certain that the aging of the U.S. population--which would pose a massive fiscal challenge over the next few decades itself--will unfold in an era of large additional commitments to our national security agenda. Two other issues, in addition to security costs, require attention because of their profound connections both to U.S. national security and to U.S. fiscal and economic performance: the United States' growing financial dependence on foreigners, and the extreme aging overtaking the rest of the developed world. Clearly, there are long-term tradeoffs to be faced: between economic security and national security, between retirement security and national security, and between today's taxpayers and tomorrow's taxpayers. In September 2003, with bombs still raining down on Baghdad, President George W. Bush made an emergency war-spending request for $87 billion. The U.S. government must spend more on safeguarding critical infrastructure, which, if disabled, could trigger widespread public terror and serious economic loss. The United States is now borrowing about $540 billion per year from the rest of the world to pay for the overall deficit funding American's consumption of goods and services and U.S. foreign aid transfers. Foreign leaders are as eager to stimulate their economies with a bustling export sector as U.S. political leaders are to keep running budget deficits at low interest rates. But it cannot be sustained indefinitely. The primary cause of the coming demog 
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