Do not fall for the ploy that these programs are “liabilities” in any typical business sense of the word. The left is hyping this up and conservatives are falling for it.
A political promise made by a politician is just that and carries no legally enforceable weight beyond the politician’s next election. SS is the best example. It can be ended tomorrow if a simple majority voted to end it. So it is with all of these “liabilities”. What the left is trying to do is take “promises” no matter how outlandish, sustainable, or constitutional and turn them into “liabilities” that must be funded.
Exhibit A is Social Security, B is public worker’s pensions, C is military pensions, and D is government bonds. Everyone one of these will be defended by the right and the left for different reasons.
Overlooked is that whatever is instituted by politics can be undone by politics. These future “liabilities” cannot be paid in full and therefore will not be paid. At some point there will be a political reckoning as to who wins and who loses.
I understand all of the I earned it, they are our heroes, it was taken from me, it’s all I have, the money was wasted elsewhere, I relied on the promises, I worked hard, etc.. But it does not change the fact that what one generation does another can undo...see Jefferson...and one generation cannot obligate the next for its debts...see Jefferson again.
From the article:
“Alternative Fiscal Scenario. This forecast is what CBO actually projects future taxes and spending to be given not just the laws in place, but also how Congress and the Administration have been bending and changing the laws through time. In short, the Alternative Fiscal Scenario (AFS) is what the CBO thinks we’re facing absent a truly dramatic and sustained shift in fiscal policy.”