Senate Special Aging Committee Holds Hearing on Global Aging and U.S. Economy
FDCH TRANSCRIPTS
Congressional Hearings
Feb. 27, 2003
Senate Special Aging Committee Holds Hearing on Global Aging and U.S. Economy
WYDEN:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And I look forward to working closely with you as we have in the past. And very pleased we could have Mr. Greenspan here as well.
I'm going to have a number of questions with respect to global productivity and inflation after the chairman is done speaking.
But suffice it to say, what we are faced with is a world wide demographic tsunami (ph). There are going to be millions of baby boomers retiring in 2010 and 2011 in this country and I think, suffice it to say, throughout much of the Western industrialized world.
So it's critically important that we get into these issues. I'm very pleased that the chairman is here today, because I frankly think government has doddled on these topics. I think we have played a bit at the margins, but have failed to really articulate the kinds of policies that are going to let us get our arms properly around this huge bow (ph) wave of retirees that I think literally amounts to a demographic tsunami (ph).
So look forward to your statement today, Mr. Chairman. And then I'll have some questions.
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WYDEN:
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Chairman Greenspan, I think we both agree this question of global productivity is right at the heart, you know, the ball game in terms of a bright retirement future for seniors here in and around the world.
And let me ask you about this. The Western industrialized nations, our country and throughout the West, we have higher wages, better health care, and better pensions. When you hear the question of improved global productivity, the first thing that comes to mind is, "Well, why not leave those places and go other places where there are lower wages, lower health and lower pensions?"
When we talk about global productivity, what would you advocate in terms of global productivity initiatives that would lift a lot of boats, that would lift a lot of boats around the world, so as to be responsive to this demographic trend?
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WYDEN:
A couple of other questions, Mr. Chairman. One that is very much on the minds of the seniors of this country and we talked briefly about it when we visited before the hearing. And I think your response might be encouraging to people, is as you know, millions of seniors have much of their net worth today in their homes. And there is significant concern among seniors and frankly other people, about the possibility of a real estate bubble, a housing bubble and that some houses would cause them great economic damage.
What is your sense about the prospect of a housing bubble, a real estate bubble? As you know, and you and I talked about it, we were concerned some years ago about a technology bubble. And I was encouraged by your answer with respect to the housing bubble.
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WYDEN:
Well, thank you. And that was an issue important to my constituents.
I want to ask you about inflation and seniors as well. Suffice it say, we all understand that for so many seniors, their income is fixed. Inflation essentially gobbles it up and compounding it of course today, is a lot of the money markets, the CDs, the investments that seniors go to, are paying relatively low rate of returns. In your view, what rate of inflation would allow the economy to grow at this point or at the same time, keeping seniors from getting you know, shalacked (ph)?
In other words, we're trying to you know, to figure out how to balance these two kinds of considerations, and given the fact that you're in the monetary business, I'd be interested in your thoughts on that.
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WYDEN:
And I want to observe the chairman's rule about just one question. I would hope becauseI thought what you said about IT made a huge difference early on as it related to the economy generally, that you and your excellent staff people would look some more at health care productivity because I think that even as it relates to privacy, if we were to do nothing else in this country other than to say on a voluntary basis, on a voluntary basis, if someone wanted to direct their health care providers to electronic medical records, that this could very significantly boost our productivity, go right to the points that you've talked about for years in terms of output per hour.
I may follow up with you some more on this because I think it's a chance to really extrapolate from what you said about productivity generally in the health care field, where of course costs are rising.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.