Will America Grow up Before it Grows Old: How the Coming Social Security Crisis Threatens You, Your Family, and Your Country
by By Peterson, Peter G.
Category: Business & Economics , Public Finance

According to recent polls, more young Americans believe in UFOs than think they will ever receive a Social Security check. Yet most Baby Boomers, as they approach retirement age, believe they will continue to live their present lifestyle in retirement - without a fraction of the personal savings or pensions necessary to pay for the future they expect.When the 76 million members of the Baby Boom generation - the largest generation in our history - begin to retire in less than fifteen years, one American in five will be 65 years of age or older. This aging population - double today's load - will depend on as few as 1.6 working Americans to support each retired person. Who will support this nation of Floridas?In this short, powerful book, Peter G. Peterson, one of America's top investment bankers and a leading critic of our entitlement policy, spells out in the clearest possible language, with unmistakable numbers and easy-to-read charts, the disaster that lies ahead if we continue to ignore our low savings rate, our ballooning federal deficit, and our enormous unfunded and unsustainable commitments to retirees. Peterson reveals what politicians are afraid to admit: trillions of dollars of promised Social Security and Medicare benefits for which no funds have been provided.Shattering the myths surrounding this subject with hard facts and eye-opening views of the future, Peterson gives the most comprehensive and candid plan for a gradual, humane, fair, and realistic answer to the greatest challenge of the next century: transforming our political, economic, cultural, and social assumptions to adapt to the realities of the graying of America.