Numbers from the Congressional Budget Office show that in the past 10 years, 70 percent of real spending increases have gone to Social Security and Medicare.
These two programs will consume $3 trillion in the next decade, and that doesn't include the interest charged on Uncle Sam's credit card.
In an article for National Review titled "The Entitlement Crisis Ignored," the Manhattan Institute's Brian Riedl reports that within three decades, the Social Security and Medicare systems will run a cash deficit of $82 trillion-including interest.
As Riedl wrote to me, "Popular solutions will not work. Doubling the 35 percent and 37 percent tax rates to 70 percent and 74 percent would close just of the long-term Social Security and Medicare shortfall. Cutting defense to European levels would close just of it. Nor can economic growth or inflation fix the gap."
Only about 30 percent of Social Security benefits are not paid based on age.
According to combined data from 15 federal agencies in 2011, older Americans are in remarkably good financial shape compared with those of previous generations, as they've seen their net wealth go up by 90 percent since the 1980s.
From any serious fiscal or moral viewpoint-and particularly for the sake of helping those truly in need-Social Security and Medicare should be replaced with social welfare programs that cover all citizens, regardless of age, but only those who are too poor or incapacitated to take care of themselves.
http://reason.com/archives/2018/03/08/uncle-sam-continues-to-stick-his-head-in
These two programs will consume $3 trillion in the next decade, and that doesn't include the interest charged on Uncle Sam's credit card.
In an article for National Review titled "The Entitlement Crisis Ignored," the Manhattan Institute's Brian Riedl reports that within three decades, the Social Security and Medicare systems will run a cash deficit of $82 trillion-including interest.
As Riedl wrote to me, "Popular solutions will not work. Doubling the 35 percent and 37 percent tax rates to 70 percent and 74 percent would close just of the long-term Social Security and Medicare shortfall. Cutting defense to European levels would close just of it. Nor can economic growth or inflation fix the gap."
Only about 30 percent of Social Security benefits are not paid based on age.
According to combined data from 15 federal agencies in 2011, older Americans are in remarkably good financial shape compared with those of previous generations, as they've seen their net wealth go up by 90 percent since the 1980s.
From any serious fiscal or moral viewpoint-and particularly for the sake of helping those truly in need-Social Security and Medicare should be replaced with social welfare programs that cover all citizens, regardless of age, but only those who are too poor or incapacitated to take care of themselves.
http://reason.com/archives/2018/03/08/uncle-sam-continues-to-stick-his-head-in
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