WHEN THE TIMES ADMITS WHAT EVERYBODY KNOWS, THAT’S PROGRESS! Gray Lady Sings The Blues:

In this story, NYT is facing what everybody knows: The retirement systems of the 20th century won’t work in the 21st. U.S. retirees will see declining social security payments after 2035, according to the story, and the private retirement system isn’t working for many people. Additionally, citizens of developed countries continue to do two things that make it hard for retirement systems to work effectively: live longer and have fewer kids. The problem is worse in Europe than it is in the U.S. But even here, without substantial changes in the way we handle old age, the current retirement system will not give millennials and even many Gen Xers the security they need.

It is a good sign that even a deep blue news source like the NYT acknowledges the retirement problem. The shift from the old way of organizing basic social institutions to something that can work in the emerging new world of the information age will only happen as partisan blues gradually and painfully face up to the reality that change is inevitable.

They’re on the wrong side of history.