Growls

In what should be required reading for every member of or candidate for Congress, Dan Mitchell and Stuart Butler of the Heritage Foundation write: “Given the political and media discussion of deficits and taxes, Americans might reasonably assume that deep tax cuts are causing today’s deficits and, more important, will cause huge long-term deficits. While it is widely understood that spending on retirement programs will increase as the baby boomers retire, it is also commonly believed that the Bush tax cuts mean falling revenues in the future. Nothing could be further from the truth.” (Emphasis added)

They write that federal revenues are likely to increase from their current 18.3% to 24% by 2050. The real problem, they write, is federal spending, noting “The (Congressional Budget Office) estimates that entitlement spending on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, if left unchecked, will more than double from 8 percent of GDP to over 19 percent by 2050.” Unless steps are taken soon to rein in the explosion of entitlement spending and control the rise in the tax burden, America may end up with a sluggish economy such as Europe has. And if you’re tempted to think that these are just the concerns of a conservative think tank, check out the charts produced by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) about the pending "budget imbalance."

The next time your favorite politician is out kissing babies, make him or her work for their living by asking them what they’re doing to prevent the looming train wreck!