April 24, 2002
From the desk of Jane Galt:Seems you can't see the
Seems you can't see the letter my dear Papa wrote to Barrons, so here it is (at least the part they excerpted)
When you evaluate the future of Social Security and the magnitude of the Social Security crisis ("Creating Complacency," Editorial Commentary, April 1, and "A Nobel Plan to Fix Social Security," Economic Beat, January 1), consider the size of the work force. The real question for the United States may not be the reduced Social Security contributions of the much smaller size of the workforce cohort behind them. It will more probably be the challenge of finding the workforce to tend the retired Baby Boomers and the workforce to carry on the work that the Baby Boomers are leaving.There is a Social Security crisis only if the nation cannot maintain the jobs that now contribute to the FICA pool and cannot increase the numbers of people who tend to the needs of the retired population. Current levels of legal immigration cannot satisfy these projected needs. The nation would have to reject the strong pressures that will come to substitute immigrants for those domestic labor supply deficiencies. We already look to legal immigration to meet the needs that we have in many high-tech and health-care areas. Why won't we try to expand legal immigration to meet our needs in other service areas that will have employment gaps emerging as Baby Boomers retire?
FRANK MCARDLE
New York City