The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
Low and Falling Fertility Means Social Security’s Funding Problems Are Worse Than Expected
English Summary
The article argues that Social Security's long-term funding shortfall is significantly underestimated because the Trustees rely on overly optimistic fertility assumptions. The analysis points out that the Trustees' projections for future birth rates are far more optimistic than current demographic trends or peer forecasts suggest, leading to a substantial underestimation of the program's true deficit. Using more realistic fertility rates increases the estimated 75-year shortfall from $27 trillion to $30-$31 trillion in present value terms. Policymakers must therefore exercise caution and not base Social Security reform decisions on these highly optimistic demographic assumptions, as doing so risks miscalculating the true scale of the long-term financial gap.
中文摘要
本文論述，社會保障系統的長期資金缺口被嚴重低估，主要原因在於信託委員會（Trustees）過度依賴樂觀的生育率假設。分析指出，信託委員會對未來出生率的預測，遠超過當前的人口結構趨勢或同儕的預測，導致對該計畫真實赤字的大幅低估。若採用更為現實的生育率，估計的75年資金缺口將從27兆美元增加至30至31兆美元（按現值計算）。因此，政策制定者必須謹慎，不可將社會保障改革的決策建立在這些過度樂觀的人口假設之上，否則有誤判長期財政缺口真實規模的風險。
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