Payback Time - Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government - Series - NYTimes.com

Payback Time - Wave of Debt Payments Facing U.S. Government - Series - NYTimes.com
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.

The competing demands could deepen political battles over the size and role of the government, the trade-offs between taxes and spending, the choices between helping older generations versus younger ones, and the bottom-line questions about who should ultimately shoulder the burden.