Ending Hunger in America, 2014 Hunger Report Full Report | Page 122

The Kids Will Be All Right
One of the major lines of argument of people who believe we should shrink the federal
safety net is generational unfairness.112 According to this line of thinking, seniors use up
so much of the safety net that there’s nothing left for children. However, the fact is that
the reason the United States has such high rates of child poverty is not because it is overly
generous with benefits for seniors. In fact, compared to other high-income countries, the
United States is much less generous in its spending per capita on safety net programs for
seniors.113 On the other hand, countries with low senior poverty rates also tend to have low
child poverty rates.
Political and media frenzy aside, there is no reason for younger workers to feel cheated
when they pay Social Security taxes so that retirees have a modicum of economic security.
As long as productivity growth continues, young workers will be able to enjoy higher living
standards while also resting assured that when they retire, Social Security will be able to
provide benefits to them as it did for earlier generations of retired Americans.
Productivity growth, as mentioned in earlier chapters, is the key to achieving high living
standards for everyone. When productivity increases, it means that workers are producing
more value over time.114 If workers get their share of the gains from productivity growth—a
big “if”—they will be doing better economically as time goes on. Since 1947, productivity
growth has averaged 2.2 percent annually. Between 1973 and 1995, growth slowed to 1.3 percent on average, but after 1995 productivity picked up again, av ???????????????????)???????????)????????$?M????????%???????????????????????????%??????E?????(????(????)=???((????()
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