But this long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead.
Keynes said that about 1975. He died in 1946.
For example, "social security" was introduced in the USA in 1935. Ever since, they have been pointing out that the scheme will necessarily and inevitable go bankrupt.
It was already obvious in 1935 that such scheme was doomed. People would no longer need children, because someone else's children were going to work and pay for their retirement benefits anyway. Unfortunately, if everyone thinks like that -- and everyone does -- then at some point such society will run out of someone else's children.mainstream media wrote: Social Security’s trust funds were projected to have a depletion date of 2035 in the latest report from the program’s trustees, one year later than was projected last year. That is no reason to celebrate. “We’re getting into that area where immediate action will be required,” said Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College. But even with a new depletion date of 2035 — a year later than projected last year — the program still faces a 75-year deficit. Much of the shortfall Social Security faces today may be explained by changing demographics that have led to a gap between income and cost rates.
In 1964, women had an average of 3.2 children. By 1974, that fell to 1.8.
Nowadays, I live in a country where my children won't be asked to pay for someone else's parents. Seriously, if people want the next generation to take care of them in their old age, then let them make these children and raise them by themselves, instead of trying to leech off of someone else's efforts.