The American Spectator

“Right, my generation. We have paid for the benefits of earlier generations, benefits that were huge compared to that generation’s taxes. So we expect you to do the same for us. But here’s the beauty and the horror of it. The benefits I get, and the debt you pay, is not fixed. It can be anything depending on what Congress passes into law.

“So my generation votes benefits for itself that must be paid for in the future, by future people, people that don’t exist now, or people like you that do exist now but not in the way they will exist in the future. People that don’t exist can’t vote. Future people who can’t vote pay for benefits for current people who can. Got it?”

“I suppose.”

“But there’s a problem. Everything depends on you being a sucker. You must get more education and become more productive to pay the debts of my generation. The added money from your added education and work will be taxed away one way or another to pay for Medicare and Social Security. The debts are just too large.

“So everything depends on you getting more education and becoming more productive despite the fact doing so will be a losing proposition over your life. To make it work, you have to never think about the future. You need to be a sucker or the entitlement state will break down. But you’ll get the final laugh.”

“I don’t see much that could be amusing here,” he remarked.

“Well, consider this, my boy: You’re not a sucker. Neither are the other people like you, the people who will produce the most wealth in the future. You all will realize that it doesn’t make much sense to invest in yourselves or in the businesses of other people when the returns go down the entitlement sinkholes. So you won’t make the investments, and the economy will turn sluggish and sooner rather than later we will become a dying economy, like France or Germany. It might even happen before the current generation dies out.

“We might live to experience and to see the disaster brought by our demands for entitlements. We have to hope you don’t think about the future and that the future doesn’t come too soon. We have to be the opposite of Einstein, which is good reason for you to follow his advice.”

“I think that’s ironic, not amusing,” Colin said.

“Or tragic. Say, are you paying for these lattes?”