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Originally Posted by Danzig
according to the cbo report i read yesterday, entitlements already take 60% of the federal budget... according to the one i linked to the other day from '09, in about 70 years, entitlements and interest payments will absorb 100% of the federal budget.
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Yeah, if we don't do anything about either entitlements OR interest payments. We do have an exploding population compared to 40 years ago. Of course our social programs will increase, we have more people. We also have more paying in.
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no money for interior, defense, energy, all that 'discretionary' spending.
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How could there be "no money" for those things, when the taxable population is increasing, even if rates stayed the same as now? That would be only relatable to interest compounding (mostly to interest compounding) The budget won't stay at X = value in 2011, when it's 2070. The budget will increase. Percentage of budget devoted to things will change, of course.
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yeah, it just needs a little tweak.
ss might need a little tweak, the entire system needs a complete overhaul
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I've agreed that SS just needs a little tweek, but Medicare needs attention, and Medicaid is in deep trouble due to the states being broke and unable to contribute their portions.
The answer is not just to get rid of the programs, no matter how much Ron Paul would like to. They are valuable programs that help our citizens, help those in need. We have to ask the question, "Do we want to remain a first world country, or not?" Because remaining first world is an investment in ourselves - and we don't even do as much as other first world countries do for their citizens now. We already are no longer in the Top Ten or even Twenty for health, education, happiness, longevity, innovation, etc.
I'm tired of people calling these programs "entitlements" and speaking as if they are welfare, or something evil, they most certainly are not. We care about our fellow Americans, and that is what these programs are about, and that is why WE, as a country, decided to do them. I'm sick and tired of people demonizing these programs and attempting to characterize them as evil.