Walker's World: Pity the poor pols

It was pretty easy to govern from the 1950s to the 1990s all across the G7 countries because the fundamental conditions were favorable. There were lots of people in the labor force and lots of children being born who would soon join the labor force and start consuming. And there were relatively few old people whose pensions and healthcare had to be paid for...

Now from Paris to Peoria, from Tokyo to Toronto and from Munich to Manchester, the baby boomers are retiring all across the G7 countries. The costs in pensions and healthcare are going through the roof but our smaller and older labor force isn't producing much growth and therefore not delivering ever-increasing tax revenues. It is therefore becoming very difficult to govern.

Rather than give up the pleasure of spending other peoples' money, our politicians have chosen to increase debt rather than court unpopularity by raising taxes. But this recourse is coming to an end.