At loggerheads for two years, the White House and congressional Republican leaders reached a deal on May 2 to balance the federal budget by 2002. Both sides heralded the agreement as historic. But did they solve the longterm fiscal problems of federal entitlement programs?
Worse Than The Status QuoBy John TottieThe single greatest threat to taxpayers and the nation's long-term fiscal health is the explosive growth in entitlement spending. The Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform concluded in 1995 that unless policy changes are implemented, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and federal employee retirement programs alone will consume all federal tax revenues by 2030. |
Wrong Solution, Wrong ProblemBy Joseph White What is wrong with the idea that we need to solve the so-called "long-term budgetary problems" associated with Medicare and Social Security? Only that this demand confuses societal problems with government budget problems, and solvable with unsolvable problems. We have a social fact: the nation's population is aging. Therefore, one would expect a larger share of our domestic output to go to old people. |
This edition of Counterpoint was posted May 13, 1997. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of AllPolitics.