Arnold Kling proposes to cut the Gordian knot of the looming explosing in government spending on retirement benefits by a "stroke of the pen": raise the retirement age. I wholeheartedly support this proposal, but I know that it's very, very unpopular. Unpopularity is why "policy apparatchiks of both parties" mock Kling's idea. The Pew poll I linked to shows that it is nearly equally unpopular (22% to 23%) among all age groups under 65. Support is at 40% in the 65+ group. The Kaiser poll notes that 41% percent of respondents are prepared to vote against their representatives in Congress if they raise the retirement age.

To the 77% of my fellow Americans aged 18 to 29 who apparently want to start collecting government benefits at age 65, would you please consider using a 401K to finance your refusal to adapt to greater lifespans and lower birthrates? Or would you please raise lots of kids to widen the base of the great government-mandated pyramid scheme founded by FDR and expanded by Johnson and Bush?