re: What is your outlook on the economy?

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So Benny, you think this country is capable of raising taxes and reducing spending to avoid a crash? The coming debt of SS and Medicare/Medicaid is staggering

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I think they'll look to reform entitlements gradually over time through various add on amendments to various seemingly unexciting bill and debates (i.e. highway bills, etc.), with potentially it coming to a head at some point due to lack of political willpower. They've had chances here and there to make actual changes. Presidents get much more blame than they ever really deserve, but one thing I legitimately hold against Bush Jr. Was not taking a shot at entitlement reform in '04-'06, he had a clear mandate and all of Congress. Instead they decided against it because they didn't want to use theor political capital on it. frick.

End result is I'm 50/50 on expecting to receive a dime of social security by the time I'm hopefully old enough to recieve it. I think they'll eventually have to taper out, outright cut, or do some sort of freeze on plans as time goes on with some sort of tax hike and spending cuts. It'll be gradual, piecemeal, and very ugly. But we'll churn on. Not because it's not a big deal, but because other countries will likely have worse problems. Also, technology will continue to mask these issues as living conditions globally will generally improve. So the end result is people still calling for the sky to fall, while "quality of life" will continue to generally improve. By quality I life am referring to technology and health care, personal quality is very ambiguous.

The bigger issue in the US is education. I believe that's by far our biggest issue. Entitlements are #2 but manageable at this point in time. Every day we don't make needed improvements to our education system is a day we lose potential ground globally. If we continue on our trend here for the next 20-30 years then I will be as pessimistic or more than anyone in this thread.