April 28, 2006 9:38AM # Entitlement Solution By [Arnold Kling](https://www.cato.org/people/arnold-kling) --- SHARE Do you think that the entitlement crisis is difficult to solve? Think again. [I write](http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=042706B) > The solution, as I have argued [for several years](http://www.techcentralstation.com/121602A.html), is to raise the age of government dependency for workers now in their 30’s and 40’s. This is a painless solution, because (a) it does not affect anyone who currently receives or is counting on government entitlements and (b) it does not really affect people now in their 30’s and 40’s. > For people in their 30’s and 40’s today, the age of government dependency is only a *promise*. As of now, projected entitlement benefits to young workers are only *promises* that, under conservative assumptions, the government will be *unable to meet*. If the assumptions pan out, then the *actual benefits* that young workers receive when they finally retire probably will have to be reduced. It seems to me that young workers are no worse off if their *promised* benefits are reduced now (by raising the age of government dependency) than if their *actual* benefits are reduced when they reach their late 60’s. But then, hey, I’m not a politician. And politicians say that the age of government dependency is a third rail that no one can touch. ##### Related Tags [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).