U.S. economy massive train wreck waiting to happen

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
6/10/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Entitlement programs stressing U.S. budget beyond endurance

One word - dire - is being used to describe the current U.S. economy. House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) reports that the "growing debt . would increase the probability of a sudden fiscal crisis, during which investors would lose confidence in the government's ability to manage its budget and the government would thereby lose its ability to borrow at affordable rates."

For many analysts, this grim projection is a shining example on how derelict U.S. President Barack Obama has been in failing to address one of the biggest issues of his presidency.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Furthermore, the retooling of national health care isn't adequately responding to the escalation in health care costs. Federal spending on health care will increase by 93 percent, from 5.4 percent presently, to 10.4 percent of GDP over the next 25 years.

Government spending will only go ever skyward, by an increase of nearly 53 percent between now and 2037, up from its historical average of roughly 20 percent. Taxes are predicted to increase to the historical average in the years ahead. These events will only spur on an unsustainable explosion in debt.

The long-term budget outlook continues to worsen with each passing year Congress fails to act. While total debt already eclipsed the size of the entire U.S. economy, debt held by the public is on pace to eclipse the economy shortly after 2022.

U.S. debt is essentially the result of the nation's largest entitlement programs, which are Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Coupled with the compounding growth in interest payments on debt, a fiscal crisis looms ahead in the near future. It's projected that government spending on health care entitlements, Social Security, and interest on the national debt will consume 100 percent of total revenues by 2025.

The federal government's interest payments alone are projected to consume 9.5 percent of our entire economy by 2037, up from about 1.4 percent today.

For many analysts, this grim projection is a shining example on how derelict U.S. President Barack Obama has been in failing to address one of the biggest issues of his presidency.

Mitt Romney's campaign has been quick to illuminate this shortcoming.

"Today's CBO report confirms that President Obama has placed us on a path to fiscal ruin. This is a President who promised to cut the deficit in half but proceeded to run four consecutive trillion-dollar deficits and accumulate nearly as much publicly held debt as all prior presidents combined.

"Instead of displaying leadership, the President has proposed a new budget that Congress rejected unanimously. Instead of tackling entitlement reform, he has made clear that he has no plan for addressing the challenge. It is immoral to place such a burden on future generations, and Mitt Romney will not allow it to continue."

Obama suffered a rebuke from a fellow democrat, former U.S. President Bill Clinton broke sharply with President Obama over the Bush-era tax cuts, calling on Congress to renew them temporarily in the face of ongoing economic malaise.

"That's probably the best thing to do right now," Clinton said Tuesday in an interview with CNBC.

"But the Republicans don't want to do that unless he agrees to extend the tax cuts permanently, including for upper income people," Clinton said. "And I don't think the president should do that."

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Economy, entitlements, Social Security, health care, Medicare

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1 - 3 of 3 Comments

jeff
11 months ago
Kart to bad none of this is reveiled by the news media. Your 100 percent correct.
kart
11 months ago
History tells us that demand-side economics works in a deep recession and depression, not voodoo-economics aka supply-side economics. Republicans are framing political skullduggery just so their big bank, big oil and big pharma continue their plutocratic swindling. In order to have virtuous markets, we need gov't oversights to weed out the cheaters and the ones who set the bar of excellence will be rewarded ten-fold, not to mention the economy as a whole...need I mention, it will also bring harmony to our society. Just look at the CBO Historical Data and you will see every time a POTUS raised indiv and corp taxes, increased gov't investment and also created incentives, our economy flourished. All we need now, is those same principles COUPLES with fiscal efficiency/oversight in implementation...because I won't deny, we do not need any more Keating 5's or Cheney's steering program monies and we need to be operating optimally & efficiently...just as cos do today as they have incorporated 6 Sigma & other types of streamlining methods... It is a fact that no POTUS in history has been held accountable for any budget or deficit #'s incurred up to the fiscal year after their first year...Fed FY begins OCT 1. So, up to Oct 1, 2009 does in fact belong to GW Bush. Then, 2010, you had Repubs saying "No" to practically everything by threatening to filibuster even nominal stuff. Obama made some deals in the LAME, of which extending tax cuts, of which added to the debt. Anyways, long story short. I suggest checking out historical CBO documents and also fact sites like Zfacts.com in addition to reading some papers by William K. Black who happens to have been a former bank regulator, is a lawyer, a criminologist and financial fraud expert. He criticizes Obama & Holder, but it pales in comparison to what you'll learn if we let Romney get in their and strip all of Dodd-Frank and every other regulation that is keeping us from becoming beyond repair or recourse for generations. Ryan & Tea Partiers talk about spending, man...Bush created two wars, gave tax cuts twice and prescription Part D and he spent money that wasn't even really there! Clinton is to blame for repealing Glass-Steagul and he re-appropriated budgets to make it look like we had surpluses, but we didn't REALLY have cash in the bank...Cheney himself said "Deficits don't matter!"
cylim
11 months ago
The author(s) of this article does/do not even have the guts to reveal his/her/their name(s)!

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