Bad Economics

FLG doesn't begin reading a Harold Meyerson article expecting to be educated in the field of economics. In fact, he often has to fight the desire to find where Meyerson lives, drive over there, explain econ 101 to him, and then drive home.

Today:

The problems of the old become the problems of the young, of course: When fewer older workers retire, fewer younger workers get hired.

This is just the type of thing that a pro-union hack, like Meyerson, would write. It's so simple that it must be true. Ah, but not so fast.

The above logic assumes that the number of jobs are static and it's a zero sum game. That for somebody to gain a job, somebody else must give one up. This is demonstrably false, because the population of the United States increases every year and yet, despite recent economic turmoil, it's not like nobody can ever find a job. Jobs get created and destroyed, but over the long-run more are created than destroyed. This is called creative destruction.

It must be too difficult for an economic imbecile like Meyerson to understand because this is the type of economic mumbo-jumbo that he spews out week after week.