It seems clear today to a substantial majority of the electorate that we must cut government spending if we want to restore our once vibrant economy.
A growing part of that problem is that state and local public employees -- and union members -- often retire at age 50 from jobs that aren't disabling or even debilitating. In allowing them to do so, we create a stifling burden on the rest of society. Those people are productive resources shifted into idle that the productive remainder must carry whether through taxation or borrowing.
Here is David Brooks identifying the right problem but arriving at the wrong solution, as he is wont to do. He seems to think that the current push against government spending opposes even highways, so his solution to these retirement policies is... a third party? What, pray tell, would be wrong with a Republican Party focused on economic growth through liberty?
I wrote earlier this year about Greece's ridiculous economic situation largely created through such ridiculous retirement policies for both public and private sector employees ( here, here, and here). For an extended and very entertaining look at that, read Michael Lewis -- of Moneyball fame -- here.
