Key Takeaways: Every American newborn inherits $376,000 in federal debt and unfunded entitlement liabilities. The $240 billion annual tax break for employer-provided health insurance is the most regressive piece of existing socialism. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is working to keep the government funded amid rising interest rates and inflation.
Every American newborn inherits $376,000 in federal debt and unfunded entitlement liabilities, a burden that skews existing U.S. socialism toward the old at the expense of the young, Wall Street Journal columnist Holman W. Jenkins Jr. argued.
"The amount of healthcare people want to consume must still be reconciled with their willingness to pay," Jenkins wrote in the Aug. 26 column, calling the $240 billion annual tax break for employer-provided health insurance the most regressive piece of existing socialism.
The column singles out property tax breaks for homeowners over 65 as another mechanism shifting the fiscal burden to younger generations while putting housing further out of reach. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been working to keep the government funded amid a "deadly mix of rising interest rates and rising inflation," Jenkins noted, as entitlement outlays collide with higher borrowing costs.
The stakes extend beyond generational equity to the sustainability of U.S. fiscal policy. With entitlement liabilities unfunded and interest costs climbing, the debate over who pays — young workers, wealthy taxpayers, or future borrowers — will shape Treasury issuance and long-term yields for years to come.
The Generational Transfer
Jenkins argues the existing system favors the old over the young, the homeowner over the renter, and the high-income healthcare consumer over those starting out. The $240 billion annual tax break for employer-provided health insurance benefits those in the highest tax brackets while inflating costs for everyone else, he wrote. Property tax breaks for homeowners over 65 compound the effect, shifting the fiscal burden of government onto younger generations and putting housing availability further out of reach for them and their families.
The column draws on Judge Richard Posner's 1995 book "Aging and Old Age" to argue that shortened time horizons in the elderly can produce unchecked selfishness. "Wisdom in the old is an aspiration, not a given," Jenkins wrote.
The Politics of Fiscal Burden
Jenkins notes the appeal of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani's socialism to privileged young people still supported by their parents, and the following that Luigi Mangione has attracted among young socialists for murdering a health-insurance executive. He contrasts Bernie Sanders' "make billionaires pay" answer with the reality that billionaire wealth consists of property rights whose value would disappear if confiscated.
The Democratic Socialists of America platform, Jenkins argues, plainly sees that dismantling America's constitutional checks and balances is a precondition for enacting its policy preferences. Scandinavian societies that young socialists idealize actually protect private wealth, with middle-class taxpayers paying willingly because they believe benefits are delivered efficiently and fairly — conditions that don't hold in the U.S., which lacks the high social trust of small, homogenous countries.
Jenkins suggests artificial intelligence may require overhauling the social contract, potentially delivering the interesting, creative life the communist dream promised. Until then, he offers a pointed answer for young socialists seeking relief from self-direction: the Army, where meals, clothing, and structure are provided — though the U.S. military also prizes initiative. "A lesson for socialists: You can't have everything," he wrote.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
