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Trivia Tidbit of the Day: Part 616 -- Unsustainable.

America's Long Run Fiscal Course-

In 2007, we knew things were looking bad over the long run in this country, fiscally-speaking. Now, they look almost hopeless:

The three largest entitlement programs-Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security-will drive federal spending (other than interest on the debt) in coming decades. Robert Sunshine says, "If current laws do not change, federal spending on Medicare and Medicaid combined will grow from almost 5 percent of GDP today to almost 10 percent by calendar year 2035 and to more than 17 percent of GDP by 2080. By 2080, if there are no changes in policy, the federal government would be spending almost as much, as a share of the economy, on just its two major health care programs as it has spent on all of its programs and services in recent years."

Who will step up and lead on the issue of unsustainable entitlements? It will burn those who attempt to make real change. It will bring their poll numbers down. They will face opposition from within the Republican Party. They will be told not to touch Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid-- or, worse, to expand them instead.

Leaders wanted. The sad reality is that there are only a handful of leaders in the GOP right now even capable of leading on this issue. When even Texas' Senior Republican-ish Senator, Mrs. Popular, attacks our sitting conservative Governor for his opposition to expanded government unemployment insurance and his opposition to brand-new middle class health care entitlements, you know something is not right with her, philosophically. She is not alone. There are far too many Republicans-In-Name-Only who would rather give the people bread and circuses than guarantee the blessings of liberty.

To really clean up the mess depicted in the graph above, we're going to need a Jim DeMint or a Tom Coburn type in the White House (although I don't see either of them getting there), plus strong GOP majorities with few, if any, RINOs in both the House and Senate. Maybe even 60 non-RINO Republicans. A really daunting task, especially after the past two election cycles. To prevent the disaster headed our way, we need to act sooner rather than later, and we need to stop piling on additional spending and debt that will make solutions even more difficult to achieve. Unfortunately, voters won't notice the big fiscal train headed our way until it is too late-- at which point a lot of people will feel a lot of pain.

And a lot of us will have to fight the urge to say, "I told you so."

Previous Trivia Tidbit: Obamanomics.

Posted by Will Franklin · 6 July 2009 08:34 AM

Comments

Posted by: ZsaZsa at July 6, 2009 11:45 AM