Washington's Math Problem
Full Disclosure: I struggled (mightily) with math in grade school, middle school, high school, and college. Even with my left brain deficiency, it's hard to watch the nightly news and not see the answer to getting the country off the precipice of its fiscal cliff.
The numbers speak volumes. In 2011, the U.S. government collected approximately $2.4 trillion in taxes while spending roughly $3.5 trillion. That's obviously a problem, but the even bigger dilemma is the cause of the deficit and the fact that few appear interested in acknowledging it.Â
Last year, our government spent $2.5 trillion on the major entitlement programs and interest on our national debt. That isn't a typo. Remember that $2.4 trillion figure? Yupp, our government doesn't even collect enough from taxpayers each year to fund Medicare, Medicare, and Social Security. In fact, Uncle Sam could quit funding everything (including the sacred Sesame Workshop and Planned Parenthood!) and still run a deficit.
Where these's smoke, there's a fire, and unfortunately, our elected officials seem intent to ignore the entitlement burnout until our fiscal house is nothing but ashes.
Take Congressman Paul Ryan for example. The Wisconsin legislator and former vice-presidential candidate proposed several budgets that would have reformed our entitlement programs and ensured their viability for future generations. While his plan was imperfect, it was met with demagoguery, not compromise, on the House floor.
"Republicans want to end Medicare as we know it!" "Paul Ryan is essentially pushing senior citizens off a cliff!" "Our grandparents will be forced to live on the streets and eat dog food if his budget is passed!" These are just a few one of "intelligent" conversations that our country's leaders used to discuss Ryan's budget.
While these useless political games continue, our entitlement programs become more insolvent by the day. By 2045, entitlement spending will match the country's tax revenue average. In 2010, Social Security ran a $50 billion deficit which will only continue to grow. In fact, without true entitlement reform, federal spending will exceed 40 percent of the economy by 2050.
Last week, top Democrats in the Senate announced that they will not accept entitlement reform as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations. Again, I'm no mathematician, but it is beyond ludicrous that our country's leaders are putting demagoguery ahead of the country's future.
Republicans' hands aren't clean when it comes to our deficit and debts, either. Both parties have contributed to the mess we're in, and it will take both parties working together to fix it.
The old adage says that the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one. Unless Congress gets serious about the future of our entitlement programs, the problem will continue to get worse. It isn't rocket science, it's basic math. And I could recommend a few challenging algebra classes for our leaders in case they want to brush up.
