Thursday, February 03, 2005

A question of numbers

Did everyone see Roger Lowenstein's article in the NYT magazine?

In 1934, when Franklin Roosevelt formed the Committee on
Economic Security to design what was in effect the first
federal safety net, the committee hired three actuaries
to stargaze into the future. The actuaries predicted that
the proportion of Americans over 65 -- then only
5.4 percent -- would rise to 12.65 percent in 1990,
meaning that retiree costs would soar. They were just a
tad high; the actual figure would be 12.49 percent.

2 comments:

Gonzo said...

Outstanding, thought-provoking article. I'm still in the camp that until we see the precise numbers on the Bush plan, it's hard to take sides on the issue. However, being a capitalist, any lessoning of gov't involvement is a good thing.

Gonzo said...

That's not an analytical article, that's PAC propaganda!