The coming economic Depression...are you prepared? Certainly can't blame this on Black leadership! Maybe its time to start looking at white leaders.

The “Boom” of the “Baby Boomers” was prophetic in that it forecast the sound of the economy crashing from that generation’s retirement and the irresponsible behavior of political leaders who only focus on the short term. However, in a representative democracy such as ours, it is really the fault of the people who are obsessed with maximizing the present and a desire not to pay taxes. I have stated all along that we are living in borrowed time due to our nation’s economy being structurally weak. I can bet that they (the government) will try to postpone the calamity by raising the retirement age to 70. They can only hope to reach a point of equalibrium by raising the age of retirement high enough so that more people die before they can recieve what they paid into it, relative to the working population. One bright spot, if any, is that the retirements will create many job openings as the jobs the baby boomers retire from need to be replaced, in most cases.

It is not simply Social Security that casts an ominous shadow over our future. Competition from China, India, Asia and the competition in the currency market from the Eurodollar, plus a never ending war on terror, will radically change our economic prospects. The only question is whether the decline will be gradual or abrupt…but it is sure to manifest. The present is the creation of the past and the future is hence the creation of the present. Consequently, this is unavoidable, barring a major restructuring of the world in regards to the growing power of China and who directly controls the oil reserves. Maybe that is why we are in Iraq, not because of Saddam…but to help protect our economic future by controlling Iraqis oil reserves.

....The worst-case scenario is a sudden crisis — perhaps a major terrorist attack or a shutoff of oil from the Middle East — that triggers a loss of confidence by investors in the U.S. economy. Foreign investors refuse to lend more money to the government to finance its deficits; drastic tax increases and benefit cuts occur suddenly; the dollar's value plummets, which raises the cost of imported goods; and a severe recession or depression results from falling incomes.

A softer landing: The USA acts swiftly and becomes more like Europe. Taxes are higher, retirement benefits are less generous but widely distributed; health care costs are controlled; and the economy is sound but less productive.

Big payments on the debt start coming due in 2008, when the first of 78 million baby boomers — the generation born from 1946 to 1964 — qualify at age 62 for early retirement benefits from Social Security. The costs start mushrooming in 2011, when the first boomers turn 65 and qualify for taxpayer-funded Medicare.

Early warning signs
But Americans needn't wait until 2008 or 2011 to see firsthand the escalating costs of these benefit programs. Medicare last month announced the largest premium increase in the program's 39-year history. In 2004 alone, federal spending on Medicare and Social Security will increase $45 billion, to $789 billion. That one-year increase is more than the $28 billion budget of the Department of Homeland Security.
Many economists say a failure to confront the nation's debt promptly will only delay the inevitable.

"The baby boomers and the Greatest Generation are delivering an economic disaster to their children," says Laurence Kotlikoff, a Boston University economist and co-author of The Coming Generational Storm, a book about the national debt. "We should be ashamed of ourselves."

USA TODAY used official government numbers to compute what the burden means to the average American household. To pay the obligations of federal, state and local government:

• All federal taxes would have to double immediately and permanently. A household earning $100,000 a year would see its federal taxes double from an average of about $20,000 to $40,000 a year. All state taxes would have to increase 20% immediately and permanently.

• Or, benefits for Social Security, Medicare and government pensions would have to be slashed in half immediately and permanently. Social Security checks would be cut from an average of $1,500 per month for couples to $750. Military pensions would drop from an average of $1,782 per month to $891. Medicare spending would fall from $7,500 to $3,750 annually per senior. The Medicare prescription-drug benefit enacted last year would be canceled.

•Or, a combination of tax hikes and benefit cuts — such as a 50% increase in taxes and a 25% reduction in benefits — would avoid the extremes but still require painful changes that are outside the scope of today's political debate. Savings also could come in the form of price controls on prescription drugs, raising retirement ages and limiting benefits to the affluent......

See full article in USA TODAY Online