What should we do about the US safety net?

Following links form blogs I am reading this day before Valentine's Day, I came across this piecefrom the New York Times. It is very interesting to read others' perspectives on government taxing and the social safety net in this country.

In some cases the individulas appear to understand just how they will be affected by their own political positions and in other cases one cannot help but think that these people do not understand the consequences.

Several citizens want to grandfather seniors over 55 to the old benefits. They expect anyone under 55 to have the time and fortitude to save enough to survive in old age with less government assistance. Is this a reasonable assumption? I have my doubts. I truly believe that people will need to make belt tightening decisions much earlier than age 55. As young people they must start saving with 401K plans at work and private IRA savings accounts. As I talk to young people I encounter, I find they often do not even know about these incentives to save.

Also, personal debt and family size have a major effect on income available for savings. To implement less generous safety nets, society must address these early choices households and individulas make and the effect they have on future financial security.

Stimulus efforts and deficit

As my macroeconomics classes end, we explore the current political discussion of the federal deficit and how to reduce it. This recent article I encountered online explains the Federal Reserve Chairman's concern about the efforts to reduce the deficit also creating set-backs for an economic recovery.

This is an example of economic trade-offs. Economists tend to sound unsure or even obtuse when they make recommendation or respond to lay questions. This is because there are often no easy answers.

"There is no such thing as a free lunch!" I would credit the originator of this phrase but I cannot ascertain to my satisfaction who that was. I do know we used it extensively in economics classes in the 60's. I believe it was a phrase popular with the late Chicago economist, Milton Friedman. Somehow someone pays for everything!