Last night the Sec of the Treasury was interviewed on Fox News and was explaining about the impending financial disaster created by the ballooning entitlement programs. The two largest such programs are Social Security and Medicare. After listening to his dire warnings, I agree that we and our children have a series of financial disasters heading for our country.
Now that the Treasury Secretary understands we have a problem he needs to look at causes for the problem. First let’s look at Entitlements. President Bush spearheaded the passage of the LARGEST new entitlement program in over 50 years- the Prescription Drug plan. Make no mistake about it without Bush and the GOP this new entitlement would not have been enacted although most Democrats also supported this new plan. It is also true that there was both a NEED and DESIRE by the majority of Americans for this new entitlement. The problem was that Bush and the Congress DID NOT FUND THE NEW ENTITLEMENT! They wanted the credit for passage to help get reelected but refused to provide the new money to pay for the plan. The bottom line is that the very problem the Treasury Secretary warned about has been made MUCH worse by the man he works for. The added financial burden is estimated at about $80 Billion per year and that amount will grow as the Baby Boomers begin to retire and the cost of drugs increases. In addition to not funding this new entitlement there was no attempt to help control the ever increasing cost of Prescription Drugs.
Now let’s direct our attention to another problem that makes the Prescription Drug issue pale in comparison- ADDED INTEREST on the National Debt. When Bush took office we were paying about $230 Billion per year in interest on the National Debt. By 2010, because of an almost doubling of the National Debt the interest we will be obligated to pay will reach $500 Billion per year and will continue to grow since at the end of the Bush term he will leave us with an ongoing annual budget deficit in the hundreds of billions of dollars per year.
Thus since January 2001, the Bush policies, as enacted by the GOP controlled Congress, has ADDED $350 Billion EVERY year to the financial obligations of America. It is time we have a plan to restore fiscal sanity to America. We can not fight wars without funding them. We can not spend like Bush and the Congress has without paying the bills.
The Secretary of the Treasury had better start talking with people like the Comptroller General of the U.S. who I quoted in the Preface of my book as follows:
“The current fiscal policy is unsustainable” “GAO simulations indicate we could be facing rising taxes 2.5 times today’s level” “The fiscal burden that our policies have placed on Americans amount to $350,000 for every full-time worker.”