Word: economisters
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When the first baby boomer filed for Social Security in mid-October, chills must have coursed along Laurence Kotlikoff's spine. For years the Boston University economist, among others, has been warning of our pending financial crisis--the burden of Social Security and health care for our largest generation on the shoulders of a diminishing proportion of workers. "We're creating our own fiscal catastrophe," Kotlikoff said in 2004. At the same time, businesses have been desperate to contain rising health-care premiums. Three years later, Kotlikoff is still determinedly on message--and offers his own radical cure...
...sorry to say this, but we are headed toward really bad days," IEA chief economist Fatih Birol told TIME this week. "Lots of targets have been set but very little has been done. There is a lot of talk and no action...
That's fine by Congress, which is considering a $5 billion "permanent disaster fund" to streamline these bailouts for persistent failures. "The system doesn't serve any consistent public-policy goal," says economist Bruce Babcock, director of Iowa State University's Center for Agricultural and Rural Development. "It only makes sense if the mission is finding ways to shovel money to farmers...
...World Trade Organization (WTO), and a recent congressional report admitted "all major U.S. program crops are potentially vulnerable to WTO challenges." When U.S. officials urge the world to embrace free markets and free trade, the inevitable response is, What about your farm programs? "Our credibility is zero," says economist Daniel Sumner, a former Assistant Agriculture Secretary who runs the University of California's Agricultural Issues Center. "Every other country thinks of us as a liar and a crook...
...Arroyo was supposed to be a refreshing change from Estrada, a former movie actor. A U.S.-educated economist, and the daughter of a former Philippine President, Arroyo presented the image of a competent, if comparatively uncharismatic, technocrat. Indeed, the Philippines has made considerable economic strides under her stewardship, posting 7.5% GDP growth last quarter - the highest in 20 years - and paying down a massive government deficit. Arroyo's government has attracted millions of dollars in foreign investment - no small beer for a country where political instability and a crushing debt load have often made investors wary. Arroyo has also made...