If only we had some warning!

Stuff like this drives me nuts. From the NY Times: "Wave of debt payments facing U.S. government"

The problem, many analysts say, is that record government deficits have arrived just as the long-feared explosion begins in spending on benefits under Medicare and Social Security. The nation’s oldest baby boomers are approaching 65, setting off what experts have warned for years will be a fiscal nightmare for the government.

In what context is the word "feared" used here? In "feared" there's the implication that the mathematical certainty of Medicare's and Social Security's insolvency would not come to pass. In what way was this not foreseen by Washington and bloggers alike? The Social Security and Medicare trustees put out a report every year explaining that benefit levels cannot continue much beyond the next couple decades.

The Left and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) play up the certitude of global warming despite the prevailing evidence. But bring up the fiscal vacuity of America's entitlement programs and you're just trying to destroy FDR's legacy. Well, good luck with your Medicare cuts, boys.

Extra – Robert Samuelson tries again with "The assault on the young": "Working Americans -- the young and middle-aged -- already pay a huge part of the health costs of the elderly through Medicare and Medicaid. These will grow with an aging population and surging health spending. Either taxes will rise or other public services will fall."

More - Megan Mcardle: "We're going broke anyway, so why not spend like drunken sailors?"