Deficit hawks' 'generational theft' is a sham

The idea that we're spending much more on our seniors than our children is wrong on the numbers and wrong on the implications.

By Michael Hiltzik
February 27, 2013

Here's a phrase you can expect to be hearing a lot in the national debate over fiscal policy, as we move past the "sequester," which is the crisis du jour, and toward the budget cliff/government shutdown deadline looming at the end of March:

"Generational theft."

The core idea the term expresses is that we're spending so much more on our seniors than our children that future generations are being cheated. An important corollary is that the government debt we incur today will come slamming down upon the shoulders of our children and grandchildren.