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03/24/2005: "Social Security and Grazer/Flora Ratios"

At the dawn of humanity the standard of living was pretty low by today’s standards. Life was a constant struggle for survival, with every individual spending virtually every hour of a long day on basic subsistence. In contrast, modern society affords amenities far beyond those enjoyed by even the most glorious king of old. What’s the difference? It all nicely boils down to productivity increases enabled by advancing technology. For example, agricultural and ranching technology enabled populations to expand beyond the natural ratios between grazing animals and flora, and between predators and prey, ratios that had been unchanged for hundreds of millions of years. Fertilizer technology allowed population gains to be continued, saving the Seventeenth Century from starvation. Productivity increases from technology provided enough societal wealth to permit specialization of roles. Everyone no longer needed to spend their entire day on subsistence farming but could instead be a builder, a craftsman, a student, a writer, a couch potato. Productivity increases have allowed each new generation to live better, and also to make greater investments in society as a whole. For example, Social Security has survived and thrived because the generations since its establishment had greater wealth than their predecessors, and they had the wisdom to set aside a small portion of this wealth for seniors. Besides directly benefiting recipients, it also freed working families from their traditional sole responsibility to care for their parents in their old age. It has been some time since the burden of social security, as reflected in the payroll deductions that fund it, were increased. A good part of that increase shouldn’t even count (specifically any surpluses the Social Security Trust Fund has built up over the last several decades), since these funds went to current expenses rather than retirees. In any case, it’s time for the current generation to show the wisdom of all prior American generations and recognize that a small portion of the wealth-generating achievements of the last several decades that have given us cell phones, flat screen HD TVs, and monster SUVs should be reinvested in society. And what if this investment is merely keeping a highly successful program like Social Security intact, with a level of benefit no greater that that provided by the last several generations? The only explanation for unwillingness to do even that is naked greed.