As Tip ‘o Neill used to say ...
“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”
Put them all together, and a number approaching half of the country participates in an entitlement program.
Now add in the 16 million new Medicaid beneficiaries, thanks to ObamaCare, plus an estimated 12 million people who enter the health insurance exchanges by 2014, where most will receive federal subsidies.
The budget implications of these programs are huge. For fiscal 2012, America spent $2.2 trillion of its $3.7 trillion budget on entitlement programs — $400 billion less than the $2.6 trillion in gross annual revenues.
Oh, and interest on the federal debt was $220 billion.
This editorial is right. The MSM uses phrases like “fiscal cliff” and says we need to do something about the “deficit.” Those words hide the problem, which is SPENDING. In particular, domestic social spending, including entitlements. We need to cut spending, period. Look at any graph or chart of spending over the past 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 40 years. It has gone up way faster than inflation and population growth. It is the problem, not the “deficit” or some “fiscal cliff.” I don’t even know what “fiscal cliff” means. Its silly. Call the issue what it is — a huge increase in spending that is not supported by tax revenue.
“A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” Everett Dirksen