Wednesday, April 27, 2011

AMERICA - Budget Cutting, Which Big-4 to Cut and How

"An Insurance Company With An Army" by Paul Krugman, New York Times 4/27/2011

A general reminder whenever budget issues are discussed: the U.S. government is — this isn’t original — best thought of as a giant insurance company with an army. When you talk about federal spending, you’re overwhelmingly talking about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and defense. And the bulk of the insurance — all of Social Security and Medicare, about 2/3 of Medicaid — is for the elderly and disabled.

This is important both for assessing projections about future spending — yes, spending is projected to rise, but how could it not given the aging of the population? — and for assessing claims about the need to shrink the government.

Put it this way: Whenever someone talks about making government smaller, he should be asked which of these big four he proposes cutting, and how. If he responds with generalities, he’s faking it.

Amen brother.

Of course; Republican moral-code when it comes to the poor, elderly, and disabled, dictates that money is much more important than protecting these citizens. Throw them out on the streets, after all, "Are there no Poor Houses?"

The rich Republican donators do not have to worry about the issues address by the big-4 of course.

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