Federal Spending

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Author Message   Spinal Tap Citizen Username: Spinaltap11 Post Number: 29 Registered: 5-2006 Posted on Monday, July 10, 2006 - 8:23 am:        My first foray into starting a thread: http://www.heritage.org/Press/Commentary/ed070306a.cfm   Foj Citizen Username: Foger Post Number: 1635 Registered: 9-2004 Posted on Monday, July 10, 2006 - 11:25 pm:        Lets see... Deficit.. 440 billion Money taken from Social Security trust fund.. 280 billion Cost of Iraq occupation... 100 billion/anum 720 billion more dollars spent than taken in. Anyone care to print some more money......   Spinal Tap Citizen Username: Spinaltap11 Post Number: 30 Registered: 5-2006 Posted on Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - 7:43 am:        Unfortunately, neither party is willing to do anything. My favorite paragraph: What have our elected officials done to address this impending crisis? Absolutely nothing. Every year reform is delayed, 77 million baby boomers move a year closer to retirement, and total reform costs increase by about $1 trillion. Timid politicians fear voters will punish anyone who courageously tries to reform these popular programs. So liberal lawmakers pretend the Social Security Trust Fund will pay all benefits until 2040 (lawmakers already spent every cent of it), and conservative lawmakers pretend that tax revenues from a growing economy can fund these costs (not even close). The bipartisan consensus: Ignore the problem and let the next generation deal with it.   MichaelaM Citizen Username: Mayquene Post Number: 196 Registered: 1-2004 Posted on Wednesday, July 12, 2006 - 11:58 pm:        Problem is: How do you sell something as unsexy as Social Security change? Especially since young adults vote less than any other age bracket? As cliche as calling the program the "third rail" of politics, the cliche exists for a reason. But nevermind Social Security. Medicare is even a bigger financial drain in the long run. I believe that at some point we'll have to create a universal healthcare system simply to have people paying in who are low cost. I'm not saying we shouldn't have these programs, but making them viable in the long term is a case where politics makes good policy hard to attain. I love this stuff.