a simple response would be progressive taxation. Tax assets, ideally non productive ones, and redistribute to the poor for use in non discretionary spending - like dinner.
A modern "new deal" for elder care would also do the trick..
> A modern "new deal" for elder care would also do the trick..
Oh please no! Boomers have already pillaged and mortgaged the futures of the youth enough already. The last thing we need is for them to stick it one more time with a new set of unpaid indefinite obligations.
For a simpler approach, just give everybody $X (00 or 000?) either one off or repeatedly. It's as progressive as it gets and at least some youth will benefit.
I'm pretty sure elder care isn't indefinite. Maybe we end it after this current generation of old people (our parents/grandparents) are no longer around.
One of the biggest social problems we'll face in the next 10 years is millions of people with dementia who can't take care of themselves just... existing. What do we do?
One fun story I've heard is a doctor gave an old woman with full blown dementia an operation to keep her alive, then she lived another 15 years just completely out of touch with the world. The family had to sell all her belongings (eating through their inheritance too), then pay even more to keep her in full time care. It makes no sense, but that's the standard set of rules. Little known fact: before medicare will pay out for extend services, they force your relatives to sell all your belongings (property, land, investments, etc) to pay for medical services before any other payments kick in.
Kind of like with executive power, however, once you start giving out benefits like social security, you can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.
Once you reach 65 and are eligible to start receiving payments, are you going to be okay when they say "nope, well's dry?" You would if you didn't realize they had been garnishing your salary for thirty years. But anyone with any sense of responsibility would be furious if they decided to just stop paying benefits after one generation.
Besides, how do you decide when a generation ends to stop paying?!
If there's one thing that keeps surprising me about Americans, it's the ability to recite, with a straight face, the most blatant, self serving propaganda:
Note, this tax increase just gets Chicago above water for 48 months. It does not remotely solve the problem. Chicagoans are expected to receive massive tax increases for years going forward.
"the mayor’s tax hike will be $1.9 billion short of the extra contributions needed through 2025."
An opinion piece that shrieks about raising property taxes on land owners and demands that it's only fair that retirees have their incomes slashed instead? A counterpoint?
What kind of reforms would be possible? My concern is the impact on SMEs and also competitiveness, but looking at what goes on in the USA vs. Europe it's clear that there is gigantic room for manoeuvre
A modern "new deal" for elder care would also do the trick..