Ben Wattenberg - Double Down on Our Entitlement Ponzi

"When birth and fertility rates are low, over the decades population shrinks, sometimes rapidly in places such as in Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece. In Japan and South Korea, birth and fertility rates are also perilously low. The result: All of their socialized pension plans and programs to provide health care for the aged are dreadfully underfunded. The only serious remedies are higher deficits, reduced benefits or higher taxes--none of them pleasant," says Ben J. Wattenberg in the Wall Street Journal.

"In the U.S., on the other hand, total fertility rates are higher and population continues to grow. While the numbers are down somewhat due to the recession, immigration remains relatively high--an estimated 1.1 million, legal and illegal, in 2010, according to the Census Bureau. This immigration will lead the country on a path of healthy long-term population growth from (roughly) 300 million people in 2000, up to 400 million in 2050 and to half a billion in 2100. This is good news for the growth of the domestic market."

[FAIR comment: The Congressional Budget Office now estimates the 'fiscal gap' at $222 Trillion. Will unlimited immigration solve that? Also see FAIR's take - Why Immigration Can't Solve the Social Security Deficit.]