In an otherwise fine piece of reporting on the continued flight of wordlwide investment into the safety of U.S. Treasury bonds, The Washington Post’s Neil Irwin reports:

Perceptions inside the Beltway rest on this idea: Although the current large budget deficit is caused mainly by the weak economy and a short-term economic stimulus that will soon expire, in the longer run the government faces a vast unfunded burden, particularly tied to Medicare and Medicaid.

It is true that Medicare’s $37.9 trillion unfunded liability is a driver of long term U.S. deficit concerns, but one cannot ignore Social Security’s problems either.

In … Continue Reading