[raybbr]

Instead, Washington has piled on more spending while pushing the payments off to the future, where they accumulate like weights in an attic, waiting to crash down on future generations.

Each one signed by the "conservative" Bush.

[RKBA Democrat]

Ain’t gonna happen. The powers that be are simply going to kick the ball further down field for our kids to deal with.

But I’ll let you in on a bit of a dirty secret: the kids aren’t going to line up to pay the bill, either. You see, the kids who are growing up right now will have choices as well. In the short term, they’ll be able to vote with their pocket books. In the longer term, they’ll be able to vote with their ballots as the baby boomers start dying off. And ultimately, they will have the ability to vote with their feet.

Remember, most western countries are going through a population crash. In 20 years or so, a well-educated young person is going to be able to write their own ticket anywhere they want to write it.

[Incorrigible]

GenX Bump

[AndyJackson]

Medical reform has to start with the understanding that in the US $1 in $7 of our GDP goes for health care. You are not going to get more than that for health care. There is no more money to be had, and perhaps there is less.

So, health care reform means making the system more efficient. It means getting all the paper pushing middle men off the health care payroll. Michelle Obama receives a $300K salary from the health care industry (more than many specialists working for an HMO. Is this because of her expertise in medical science, nursing or pharmaceutical development and production?

[Hardastarboard]

America will not have the money to keep paying the costs of its social insurance programs as the retiring baby boomers draw upon them.

I've been thinking for a while now that there's a way to bring down the US Government without firing a shot, or uttering a single angry word. If all of us take every dime of entitlement money that they're willing to dole out, the whole miserable mess will come crashing down within ten years.

[WoofDog123]

“4. The United States spent $235 billion to pay the annual interest on the federal debt in 2007.”

Sadly, we can thank the Big Government president currently in office for a sadly large chunk of the proportional amount of the current federal debt being maintained (25%?)

I knew the guy was a ‘compassionate conservative’ even in 1999/2000 when his campaign started that refrain, but who would have expected it would have been the 1-veto president, at least while his party was in office? (clue - his first veto after 1+ terms of nothing was NOT over spending)

[Wolfie]

They don’t care. The goal for our Federal representatives is just to be fat, happy, and retired (with their wealth safely squirreled away somewhere) when it all comes tumbling down. And the only way to do that is to stay in office as long as possble. And the only way to do that is to keep getting re-elected. And the only way to do that is is to continue to spend, spend, spend our tax dollars. Because the guy who stands up and tells it like it really is will be gone in the next election. Because, frankly, We The People want our free stuff.

[rabscuttle385]

If the federal government maintains the status quo in spending, it will virtually assure that just when you are in your peak earning years, around 2030, your taxes will be at least 33 percent higher than they are now.

Thirty-three percent...nominally or in real terms, i.e. after inflation? I strongly suspect it will be the former.