Grey Dawn for the Garden State?

Think the Garden State’s financial future looks bleak now, Save Jerseyans?

Just wait until our changing generational demographic trends complete their terrible dance. And as was noted in this article from today’s Asbury Park Press, an older, poorer, less dynamic New Jersey will have a profound effect on our general quality of life:

The Garden State population has grown to 8.8 million, and within 20 years is expected by state demographers to approach 9.4 million. Of greater consequence than the raw numbers is how much growth is expected in the elderly population, equal to more than 90 percent of the overall change.

Baby boomers, the post-World War II generation born between 1946 and 1964, account for nearly 30 percent of New Jersey’s population. As they age, they’ll push the number of residents 65 years and older from 1.15 million four years ago to more than 1.8 million by 2028, nearly 20 percent of the population.

The first baby boomers begin turning 66 years old this year and become eligible for full Social Security benefits, avoiding a reduction in benefits as big as 25 percent that affected boomers who opted for early retirement, said James Hughes, dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University.

Nationally, that amounts to around 11,000 people turning 66 each day for the next 18 years, he said.

“This is the start of significant strain on national resources,” Hughes said.

“Strain” is an understatement. We’re on the brink of a fatal hemorrhage.

So the next time your friend, uncle or co-worker accuses guys like Chris Christie and Paul Ryan of being “radicals” or “alarmists” for proposing dramatic government spending reforms, keep this article’s contents in your mental back pocket.

After all, it’s literally only a matter of time before this country won’t be able to afford 20th Century-style big government liberalism any longer.