Brian Riedl
Brian Riedl
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President Bush's pledge to halve the budget deficit by 2009 distracts policymakers from the real issue of unsustainable trends in long-term entitlement spending. The president's proposal to slow Medicare's 9% annual growth rate is a good fiscal step, but the budget does not propose enough immediate and bold reforms to the quickly growing entitlement programs that threaten to overwhelm the budget.
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The current trend points to tax increases in the long run. The political will to make the difficult decisions on spending is lacking.
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It's something we have to decide as a country. What are our priorities?
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The biggest economic danger of the next 50 years is the coming crisis in entitlement spending. The problem is the entire health care system is in crisis. The entire U.S. health care system needs to be overhauled. If not, it will literally bankrupt the federal government.
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What that means is those costs are being passed down to our children - with interest.
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There is no shortage of candidates for elimination. There is only the shortage of political will to make the difficult decisions.
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Earmarks could be worthy or not, but we still consider it corrupting because lawmakers are deciding who gets a grant.
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dump the largest debt in world history into the laps of the next generation. Within a decade, tax increases would need to reach $7,000 per household (a 37 percent tax hike) just to balance the budget.
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Even small-government conservatives believe Washington should prioritize defense, safety and security, and therefore see rescuing New Orleans as a top government priority.
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Director Portman will be inheriting the most dire long-term fiscal outlook we've ever had. The first baby boomers retire in 18 months, and the Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs are set to explode. On top of that, he'll be dealing with a Congress that's absolutely addicted to runaway spending and pork!
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Congress continues to resist cutting even one program.
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There's so much investment capital out there for profitable new technologies. Investors are constantly looking for good ideas to invest in. If these ideas are as good as these companies say, they should have no problem, at minimum, finding a loan.
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This ... bill threatens to become another symbol of irresponsible runaway spending.
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As bad as the last five years have been, it's going to get even worse the next five years.