----- Original Message ----- From: "David B. Shemano" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
I would suggest that this is problematic, because while it would be democratic for current workers to agree to tax themselves to transfer assets to the currently retired, it is anti-democratic to bind future generations to tax themselves to transfer funds to the current workers when the current workers retire. Among other things, current workers (and current retirees) have no incentive to take into consideration the effect of present decisions on future generations. SS payments (and similar transfers like Medicare) continue to incease as a percentage of the budget each year, which means the budget options for future generations will be severely restricted. David Shemano =============== Any policy choices the electorate-cum-the state makes now is anti-democratic in terms of binding future generations. Hell, one could go further and quote Jefferson out the wazoo on the need to abolish governments every 18-20 years or so, because no one generation had the right to bind the generations that came after it; path-dependency and cumulative causation could not but lead to injustice and unfreedom.
