Social Security Runs Out in 2034

The Social Security System is going to run onto the rocks long before young people hit retirement.  The new report from the trustees of the Social Security System predicts that the trust fund is going to run out in 2034.  That means big tax increases or benefit cuts for the Gen X, the Millennial generation and those generations to come.   

To illustrate the magnitude of the 75-year actuarial deficit, consider that for the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds to remain fully solvent throughout the 75-year projection period: 

(1) revenue would have to increase by an amount equivalent to an immediate and permanent payroll tax rate increase of 3.36 percentage points to 15.76 percent; 

(2) scheduled benefits would have to be reduced by an amount equivalent to an immediate and permanent reduction of about 21 percent applied to all current and future beneficiaries, or about 25 percent if the reductions were applied only to those who become initially eligible for benefits in 2021 or later; 

(3) some combination of these approaches would have to be adopted. 

Social Security is a better shape than Medicare.  

Harvard Professor: Vaccine Passports Don't Work

Professor Martin Kulldorf, a Harvard epidemiologist has been making the case against COVID passports and mandates.  In a recent post, he notes the discriminatory effects of the mandates against the working class.  A similar analysis could be applied to the differences in the effects on the mandates on the young versus the old.  Young people have an extremely low morality risk from COVID in the first place but they have suffered far greater harm from the lockdowns and mandates that the old.   

In part, the harm to young people is from a failure to follow The Science.  The accepted wisdom of epidemiologists from the outset was to isolate the vulnerable populations and let everyone else continue with their business.  The CDC and most Western countries did the exact opposite.  Isolate everyone and lockdown the economy.  The longer term effects of these failed policies are increasingly becoming apparent.  It is too bad that many places are intensifying these failed policies through vaccine mandates and passports.  However, at least Denmark has the right idea.  
 

Amherst College Students Hate Lockdowns

Even posh kids are fed up with lockdowns.  American colleges have long resembled left-wing madrassas in terms of ideological uniformity so perhaps it's fitting that they adopt the same social practices.   

BOSTON (AP) — Hundreds of students at Amherst College in Massachusetts are pushing back against what they call the school’s overly restrictive COVID-19 protocols that include double masking indoors, restrictions on off-campus activities, and no in-person campus dining. ...

Students are allowed to leave campus to take care of personal business and to pick up takeout meals, but should not go to restaurants, cafes, or bars, she said.

More here. 

College Students Say Biden Has Failed

 

Buyers remorse sets in on campus: Students Disown Joe Biden After Endless 'Disaster'

COVID Panic Propaganda is Harmful

Story out of the Boston Herald on hospitals being swamped by psychiatric patients as a result of the lockdowns and COVID hysteria.  It is not surprising as the political class and meia have been telling us for a year and a half that the world is a terrible, dangerous place.  

COVID-induced job losses, fear and isolation have all taken a toll, as well as delays in seeking care, leading to a regular bottleneck of over 500 patients per day in the state awaiting specialized psychiatric care, according to a survey by the Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association conducted this summer.

Patients are also sicker — a new impact of the pandemic — including “patients with severe psychosis, patients with severe depression or other mood symptoms or anxiety that lead to suicidal thoughts, patients coming in after suicide attempts,” said Dr. Sejal Shah, medical psychiatry chief at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

The toll on young people is particularly high.  Brad Polumbo writes that college students are literally frightened out of their wits.  College used to be fun.  Now it's got the feel of an internment camp.

Government restrictions on daily life during the pandemic have fueled a youth mental health crisis . Yet, even with many of these restrictions now lifted, young people are still living in a hysterical state of fear.

Likely as a result of this widespread fear, 61% of students think their schools should impose restrictions on attending parties and large social gatherings. 

There’s just one problem: There’s almost no basis for any of these fears, and college students are living scared of their own shadows for no reason.

For one, COVID-19 does not pose and has never posed a high risk of death or hospitalization for individuals of college-age. (With the rare exception of those with preexisting conditions that compromise their immune system, individuals for whom many diseases are life-threatening.) Yes, COVID-19 is a serious virus and has claimed many lives. But the deaths are almost exclusively among those much older than the college demographic.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 6,744,362 Americans aged 18 to 29 have tested positive for COVID-19. Among that same age cohort, an estimated 2,951 have died. These figures allow us to calculate a rough fatality rate of 0.04%. This means that if 10,000 members of this age group contract the virus, four will die. And these rates are assuming no vaccination! The available vaccines are highly effective at preventing infections serious enough to lead to hospitalization or death — even for the delta variant . So, for vaccinated students, the risks are even more minuscule.

Gen Z Least Interested in Remote Work

Remote work is not turning out to be a great thing for those starting their careers.  You don't get the skills and connections that come with on-site work.  When asked whether they'd be willing to take a 5 percent pay cut to be able to continue to work at home, members of Gen Z were the least likely to want to take that bargain.  

Smart move.  Remote work isn't all that it is cracked up to be.  Millions of young people will find it harder to build networks and develop their talents when interaction with others takes the form of Zoom calls versus the give and take of workplace interactions.  That will stunt young careers much more than that of the Millenials and older generations that have had the benefit of close contact with colleagues.  

Good News: Gen Z Least Likely to Approve of Censorship

Bad news: Gen Z is more likely to approve of censorship of freedom of speech than in 2018.  According to Pew two-thirds of Democrats want government or big tech to censor speech.  

Roughly half of U.S. adults (48%) now say the government should take steps to restrict false information, even if it means losing some freedom to access and publish content, according to the survey of 11,178 adults conducted July 26-Aug. 8, 2021. That is up from 39% in 2018. At the same time, the share of adults who say freedom of information should be protected – even if it means some misinformation is published online – has decreased from 58% to 50%.

Terrible news for the country and for young people.  The ability to express oneself is the most basic of human freedoms.   Young Americans are heading into a new dark age.  In many ways, they have themselves to blame.  Stop voting for Democrats would be a good start.

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