The "Time Bomb"

The greatest problem in American politics today is the social security “time bomb.” This threatens to deny senior citizens, as they get older, from reaping their just reward for a lifetime of paying into the system. Solutions to the problem that have thus far been posited seem to endanger the system even more. For instance, many conservatives claim that privatization is the means to balancing the system. This privatization involves investment in the stock market, which is too risky a venture on which to bet one’s livelihood. Other solutions include raising the retirement age, raising the payroll tax, and increasing taxes on benefits. All of these options introduce a new set of problems to deal with and no one seems to be feasible in the immediate future.

The “time bomb” is due in large part to the tremendous population spike following World War Two known as the “baby boom.” Now that the North American birthrate has diminished significantly and the baby boomers reach retirement age, a much smaller number of working citizens will be paying for a much greater number of retirees. This imbalance could have ramifications that will spread through generations of Americans to come.