After spending 35 years in the private sector I can honestly say that your "book learnin" hasn't taught you a thing. You obviously don't have a clue how our economy works and the components of GDP. We have or had the greatest economy on the face of the earth until social engineering liberals came into power and continue to work to destroy it. Most liberal elite academics have never run a business and are totally out of touch with reality.
My friend, the retired econ professor, is no liberal elite, and will be the first to say that the current situation probably wasn't anticipated by more than a few economics gurus....and even those weren't listened to by politicians..
Services must be paid for, preferably NOW, out of OUR OWN POCKETS, not those of our children. Ever hear a politician say anything like that?
Inflation is at a snails pace and still we have the entitled retirees whining about no COLA this year, or last. That includes me, my SS and my Navy Retirement did not go up. Such is life, stuff happens to all of us eventually, and most of us don't complain about it.
Some retirees whine about being on a "fixed" income, and the biggest whiners are those who by all appearances have more than enough income and assets to be only minimally affected by no COLA.
Other retirees whine about having to pay the schools portion of property taxes, saying that they have no children in the schools. True, but they did once, and no way did most of us pay the full cost of educating our children...
That is like saying "I am not drawing SS, why should I pay into it?"
But all this is just the opinion of someone who has always been a bit paranoid about the future, and did a good job of preparing for whatever comes.....so far.:2razz: