because they are fundamentally flawed Ponzi schemes. Like all such schemes, they can only survive so long as you can find new people to pay into the program to keep up with the payouts. Overall, the birthrate in the US is too low to sustain these programs. The only hope would be greatly increased immigration, but that too is unsustainable in the long run.

While the national debt is indeed huge ($6,868,507,453,740.20 as of 11/07/03), it pales compared to the estimated $50 TRILLION in unfunded liabilities, primarily in Social Security and Medicare based on recent reports.

So, what will the future hold? As Yogi Berra and Niels Bohr both noted, "Predictions are difficult, especially about the future."

Hyperinflation seems unlikely because the Federal Reserve isn't likely to free up the money supply that much. My guess is that one of two things will ultimately happen with SS and Medicare:

1. Means testing will be applied so that people who actually saved for their retirement won't qualify for the programs. However, this could prove to be political suicide because millions of people who've paid in a lot of money to the programs will be disqualified. For that reason, the more likely thing will be...

2. Taxes will be raised on retirees like they were in 1993 on those whose retirement income is above a certain level.

Housing prices are indeed insane in the Bay Area. I spent a couple months in Sunnyvale back in 1988 and the prices were crazy even then. Whether those prices are sustainable in the long run seems questionable, given that the high cost of living has already driven out a lot of lower and medium income people. People have to make a lot of money to be able to afford a place to live. Can the economy there support wages that high? The economics professor Thomas Sowell has written on factors that have driven up the housing prices in the Bay Area, such as open space requirements that have removed a lot of real estate from the market and rent control laws. Perhaps they'll have to look into such policies if they hope to have an affordable housing market.