What will happen if we do not go after entitlement programs which if the left has

[Robert]

its way will consume all of our GDP.

All ready we’ve placed our nation on a course that will at the very least make our nation insolvent and at worst completely bankrupt the nation. Hell even China has said it will not support any more spending in other words they will not continue to fund this administrations excesses.

Currently the left is crying over 6 billion in cuts to entitlements which will not even pay a percentage of the interest on the debt which is currently 14 trillion.
You folks on the left should at least try to be honest and admit that we cannot sustain the spending level which we are currently at all that you are doing in insuring our children have nothing in the future other than a debt they cannot pay.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

You don't understand. We're not "broke," we have plenty of money. We merely need to confiscate it from companies who are hoarding it, and from the uber wealthy. There's trillions there for the taking.

Then everything will be all right!

 

[waynefromaitkin]

GOP appears poised to take on entitlements
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r Sun Mar 27, 2:30 pm ET
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – If there's any place where tea partiers in Congress might hesitate to call for cuts in Social Security and Medicare to shrink the federal debt, Florida's retirement havens should top the list.

Even here, however, Republican lawmakers are racing toward a spending showdown with Democrats exhibiting little nervousness about deep cuts, including those that eventually would hit benefit programs long left alone by politicians.

In fact, many GOP freshmen seem bolder than ever. It's Democrats, especially in the Senate, who are trying to figure out how to handle the popular but costly retirement programs. Congress, meanwhile, is rapidly nearing critical decisions on the budget and the nation's debt ceiling.

In southeast Florida last week, first-term GOP Rep. Allen West, a tea party favorite, called for changes that some might consider radical: abolish the Internal Revenue Service and federal income tax; retain tax cuts for billionaires so they won't shut down their charities; stop extending unemployment benefits that "reward bad behavior" by discouraging people from seeking new jobs.

As for entitlements, West told a friendly town hall gathering in Coral Springs, if Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid "are left on autopilot, if we don't institute some type of reform, they'll subsume our entire GDP" by 2040 or 2050. GDP, or gross domestic product, measures the value of all goods and services produced in the United States.

Social Security, the largest federal program, mainly benefits retirees. Medicare provides health coverage for older people. Medicaid helps those with low incomes. Combined, the three consume about 40 percent of the budget. Their costs are growing rapidly. Social Security and Medicare benefits now exceed the payroll taxes that fund them.

 

[Late2TheParty]

GOP added the largest entitlement expansion since LBJ with Medicare Part D under Bush (with Bipartisan support.)

But yeah, all those unfunded promises will kill the economy soon.

 

[editec]

What will happen to US hegeonomy when free trade and bad foreign and domestic policies has bankrupted the American people?

 

[Late2TheParty]

Same thing that happened to Rome. Empire and influence shrinks.

Not overnight, but it'll happen.

Maybe our store shelves won't be as full anymore either...

 

[Oddball]

What will happen to US hegeonomy when free trade and bad foreign and domestic policies has bankrupted the American people?

A legitimate concern, if we actually had free trade.

 

[signelect]

you don't see congress or the Pres and his staff offering to take any cuts in their benefits. I am 68 still working full time and am going to need all of my SS and Medicare although with the Obama plan they may decide I am not worth it and just kick me to the curb. Does anybody know where this guy comes from. Why is records are sealed. YOu only do that if you have something to hide. One things is for sure, hiding is one thing he is very good at.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

We'll go bankrupt.

Of course, even if you cut the entitlements, if you engage in a new war every other year or so we'll go bankrupt too. If you're serious about the US staying fiscally sound, you've got to not only go after entitlements, but also military spending. That means closing bases overseas and telling the world we're done leading it around by Tomahawk missle.

What's sad is that I'm fairly certain at this point that the role of the USA as world leader is pretty much toast. Either we go bankrupt and it's over, or we cut our spending to within our means, and that means the aid and military influence ends all over the world. That observation depresses the hell out of me, but I just don't see how we can keep spending the way we are.

 

[Midnight Marauder]

GOP added the largest entitlement expansion since LBJ with Medicare Part D under Bush (with Bipartisan support.)

"MOM! The other kid did it toooooo!"

 

[Claudette]

We'll go bankrupt.

Of course, even if you cut the entitlements, if you engage in a new war every other year or so we'll go bankrupt too. If you're serious about the US staying fiscally sound, you've got to not only go after entitlements, but also military spending. That means closing bases overseas and telling the world we're done leading it around by Tomahawk missle.

What's sad is that I'm fairly certain at this point that the role of the USA as world leader is pretty much toast. Either we go bankrupt and it's over, or we cut our spending to within our means, and that means the aid and military influence ends all over the world. That observation depresses the hell out of me, but I just don't see how we can keep spending the way we are.

Your so right.

Entitlements and subsidies are killing us. They are simply unsustainable.

We need major cuts across the board. We need to stop spending what we don't have.

Perhaps the clowns in DC need a written diagram?? They obviously are to stupid to see what anyone with a modicum of intelligence sees.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

GOP added the largest entitlement expansion since LBJ with Medicare Part D under Bush (with Bipartisan support.)

"MOM! The other kid did it toooooo!"

The problem is there's nothing stopping both kids from doing it. Polls routinely show everyone wants to cut the budget, but when you actually propose something you alienate everyone. When you spend money, you make a majority happy.

Translating that into votes and winning elections isn't hard and its the reason that even the guys advocating restraint are spending money like drunk sailors.

 

[Care4all]

social security has been overtaxed so that we can pay those retired thru 2045....those surplus revenues of SS will do such. It is income taxes that should have been paying its own way as the SS taxes have done for SS, instead of the gvt using SS surplus taxes to pay for what income tax revenues should have paid.

social security needs reform, no doubt, so it can be secured for 75 years at a time...not saying it does not need tweaking.....but SS tax payers should not be penalized because our congresses have overspent on the running of our gvt.

Medicare and Medicare pill bill, needs MAJOR reforms. It was the biggest entitlement added by the GOP in recent history, adding trillions in future debt, because the GOP did NOT pay for what they added....they gave tax cuts instead, and the Democrats have extended such tax cuts as well....

congress has overspent in discretionary spending for a decade, and now they want to cut social security because of their spending like drunken sailors.

Our total defense budget has gone from $290 billion a year in 2000 to $850 BILLION a year......THAT'S OUR PROBLEM, that is where the debt has accumulated from....the DEFENSE BUDGET has to be CUT.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

We need major cuts across the board. We need to stop spending what we don't have.

Perhaps the clowns in DC need a written diagram?? They obviously are to stupid to see what anyone with a modicum of intelligence sees.

We need a complete change in dialogue. Instead of asking what we can cut, start at zero. Take the Federal Income as it is now, budget the money to pay for the debt, and start from there. Figure it all out from the ground level.

Instead we're talking about a cut here, a cut there, and meanwhile the whole thing is going down the tubes. I don't want to hear arguments about why we can't cut "X", I want to hear why we should be paying for "X" in the first place.

Now, I know my list of what we should be paying for won't match other folks, but if you have the conversation from that angle I think you'll have a much better solution come about than anything from the current line of attack.

 

[Dr.Traveler]

s
social security needs reform, no doubt, so it can be secured for 75 years at a time...not saying it does not need tweaking.....but SS tax payers should not be penalized because our congresses have overspent on the running of our gvt.

Social Security is probably the one entitlement program that can be saved with only some minor tweaking. The problem is that one side actively wants to annihilate it, and the other treats it like the Mona Lisa (i.e., any alteration at all will RUIN EVERYTHING!!!!!).

Medicare, Medicaid, Defense Spending, etc, need a top down redesign like you said. Major reform is needed.