Why We Are In the Budget Mess We Are In

If you want to understand the financial crisis that we are in as a nation, we spend $2.2 Trillion on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, other safety net programs, and debt service.  We take in $2.2 Trillion in taxes. That means that we borrow $1.6 Trillion for Defense and every other penny the Federal Government spends out of a $3.6 Trillion budget.

Looking at this, we can see that we are spending way more than we can possibly take in and there is just not that much that we can cut - unless we engage in entitlement reform, which no one wants to do because the people receiving entitlements are also those who vote. But, the debt that we are incurring in this situation is horrible and getting worse every day.

 

This is the situation that we are really in. What will we do about it?

Comments

[Alan Cross]

I forgot to add the link in for this article: http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258

[Christiane]

two wars paid for on credit . . . and billions borrowed for certain tax cuts

tax breaks for companies sending jobs overseas, lowering taxes that would have been paid by employees laid off

continued breaks for the 'job creators' and after ten years, realizing that the only people that benefitted WERE 'the job creators', but where's the jobs . . .

we dug a big hole, but taking food out of the mouths of poor children won't make up for the huge benefits and tax breaks carved out of legislators by special interests ...

feed the poor children, help the widows. . .
or we WILL be cursed as a nation which has wallowed in self-indulgence and greed beyond belief

[downshoredrift]

Christiane,

I appreciate the sentiment and caring for poor children should certainly be a priority. But, even if you taxed the wealthiest at 100% of their income and we were not in any wars, we would still be running massive deficits. Entitlements are killing us and are unsustainable. Eventually, we wont be able to borrow anymore, the dollar will be worthless, and we wont be able to help anyone and we will all be starving. It is a matter of basic economics. Something must be done but there is no political will to address this. My solution is to stop the wars, slash spending, reform entitlements drastically, raise taxes by closing loopholes, and declare war on the budget deficit like it was a moral enemy. Get our house in order and then rebuild. If we dont, the American Experiment will go bankrupt.

[Pastorgeoff]

Good grief ... it's the "war card" again. The two wars were/are a drop in the bucket compared to entitlement spending.

The simple fact is that the entitlement programs, including Social Security and Medicare, were never within the scope of the federal government as envisioned by the Founding Fathers. These "programs" were created to purchase votes, plain and simple. The gov't exists for common defense and to provide the environment for capitalism. It is not the responsibility of the taxpayers to "feed the children" and "care for the poor." It is OUR responsibility as believers to do so, on an individual basis. But not as a taxpaying collective.

If the federal government had not expanded its powers beyond the intent of the Founders, we would be a nation that is prosperous beyond description. Instead, creativity and hard work are taxed into non-existence in an effort to subsidize those who are not creative and refuse to work.

The day of economic reckoning is coming.

[downshoredrift]

Basic economics: Guns or Butter. You cant have both. I am a regular critic of our entitlement largesse. We need to deal with it. But, having troops in 180 countries and fighting two wars for the past decade and spending more on defense than all the other nations on the planet combined doesnt come cheap either. I dont know why you feel the need to support that expenditure at the level that it is. We obviously dont have money for either.

I really dont see Christians addressing all of the social needs of our nation either.