Buried by the welfare state
This is just splendid news:
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—programs that serve older people—already exceed 40 percent of the $2.7 trillion federal budget. By 2030, their share could hit 75 percent of the present budget, projects the Congressional Budget Office. The result: a political impasse.The 2030 projections are daunting. To keep federal spending stable as a share of the economy would mean eliminating all defense spending and most other domestic programs (for research, homeland security, the environment, etc.). To balance the budget with existing programs at their present economic shares would require, depending on assumptions, tax increases of 30 percent to 50 percent—or budget deficits could quadruple. A final possibility: cut retirement benefits by increasing eligibility ages, being less generous to wealthier retirees or trimming all payments.
Comments
By 2030, their share could hit 75 percent of the present budget.
So, what is the problem with taking the payroll deductions and employer contributions for these socialist programs and placing them into index funds or managed portfios?
Oh yeah! If the lockbox were really locked, the funds could not be plundered every year -- with IOUs representing the real hit to the national budget.
I am reminded of the Georgia Lottery. All that money "for the children" seems to find its way out of education.
And don't forget the Tobacco Settlements to the states where every imaginable pork project has been funded.
There is not one tax or fee or levy that is safe from the thieves who we entrust to serve the nation's best interests.
Posted by: Larry Stanley | July 30, 2007 03:26 PM
One more thought...
cut retirement benefits by increasing eligibility ages, being less generous ...
Please do not forget that we are taxed to pay for these programs. We are forced to place our money into them.
Please do not get too fiscally tight about reducing benefits that we already paid for.
Just because one retiree is better off than another, that does not change the fact that his paycheck was hit (while working) just like yours and mine.
Look at your paycheck stub to see the percentages of your "earned wages" devoted to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Posted by: Larry Stanley | July 30, 2007 03:30 PM
This is not new information. It has been around for some time now. The problem, as I see it, is those people elected to Washington will not own up to the looming tax hikes that will come if some body doesn’t grow a set of balls.
All these Washington types are worried about the next election so they take the path of the least resistant. The only person I ever heard talk about the seriousness of the problem was Herman Cain. He said that is why he wanted to go to Washington, to tackle the real issues.
I can only hope that a fiscally responsible person is elected this go around and will work on this frightening situation. As I age with years and see the debt of this country grow and the entitlement programs swell I am panicky with terror for my children. President Bush has been the greatest let down in politics for the Republican Party and the country due to his lack of fiscal responsibility and his ever increasing entitlement programs.
My quandary is who will step forward as the budget conscious President that will work on these problems and who will help them? Rudy has shown his fiscal abilities and cut taxes many times over. Romney may be able to do it with his business back ground. Other than these two I do not see it happening.
I sure would hate for another let down out of the Republican Party, it would destroy it.
All I see in the future (yes my father has a glass eye) is higher taxes like those we had when the country was at war in the 1940s – up to 92% tax rate. J
Posted by: ngreenbaum | July 31, 2007 08:48 AM