Tuesday, April 26, 2005
The GOP Legacy of Debt
A big hole.
We have a huge budget deficit problem. Just how bad is it? Well this years projected deficit should come in around $421 billion dollars. That's a big number. So big in fact, that it would be impossible to eliminate it by just cutting spending. You see the federal budget can be roughly divided into three categories: discretionary spending, defense/interest on debt, and entitlements (Social Security/Medicare). Discretionary spending is just about everything you can think of, highway funding, student aid, agricultural subsidies, etc. This segment of the budget is roughly $400 billion dollars a year. Defense/Interest on the debt, is also roughly about $400 billion. Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid is a dedicated budget item..meaning congress has no authority to reallocate these funds...this segment is roughly $1.3 trilllion. So, that leaves the options rather limited. We could eliminate all spending except defense and entitlements, or eliminate defesense spending, or cut entitlements by roughly 1/3. Either way the choices are crippling and the deficit number will grow in 2017 when the Social Secuirty IOUs start coming due.
Thank goodness we're being governed by a party that's concerned about things like fiscal prudence....sigh...
We have a huge budget deficit problem. Just how bad is it? Well this years projected deficit should come in around $421 billion dollars. That's a big number. So big in fact, that it would be impossible to eliminate it by just cutting spending. You see the federal budget can be roughly divided into three categories: discretionary spending, defense/interest on debt, and entitlements (Social Security/Medicare). Discretionary spending is just about everything you can think of, highway funding, student aid, agricultural subsidies, etc. This segment of the budget is roughly $400 billion dollars a year. Defense/Interest on the debt, is also roughly about $400 billion. Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid is a dedicated budget item..meaning congress has no authority to reallocate these funds...this segment is roughly $1.3 trilllion. So, that leaves the options rather limited. We could eliminate all spending except defense and entitlements, or eliminate defesense spending, or cut entitlements by roughly 1/3. Either way the choices are crippling and the deficit number will grow in 2017 when the Social Secuirty IOUs start coming due.
Thank goodness we're being governed by a party that's concerned about things like fiscal prudence....sigh...
