Social Policies Reform: Pick Your Side Now
Social Security expert Peter Ferrara, a fellow at the Washington-based Free Enterprise Fund, says this (hat tip to my uncle in PA):
The Congressional Budget Office projects that under current law Federal spending as a percent of GDP will rise from 20% today to 34% by 2030.
… Federal spending has been around 20% of GDP since the end of World War II. The CBO projection indicates we are now on a path where the Federal government will grow by 70% relative to the economy in coming decades. You can add in at least another 15% of GDP for state and local spending.
… Over the next 30 years, national politics will be about either dramatic reforms to slow the growth of government, or enormous tax increases to pay for it. There is no other choice. Pick your side now.
I know which side I am on. We need some political representatives who will take reform seriously - and who will recognize that it must be comprehensive. Our entire set of social policies is on a path to explosive growth - especially Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Additionally, the vast array of anti-poverty programs are damaging the lives of the poor and eating away at the values of the working class. Out-of-wedlock birth rates are rising rapidly for all races.
As I discussed here, we are heading toward where over half of the GDP is going to be dedicated to government (when state, local, and federal are all included).
Comprehensive reform of the welfare state should be the top political issue of the next decade until we get it right.
