Like it our not, Republicans have contributed just as much if not more to our deficit problem than Democrats. Once 9/11 happened Defense spending and Homeland Security spending have skyrocketed to unchecked/unquestioned proportions. How can we be involved with 2 wars for ten years plus add another 1/2 war in Libya? No wonder why we are in debt.
Let's break down how our Federal Budget is divided up. For every dollar collected, we pay 21 cents to Medicaid, Medicare, and Chip. Defense budget is about 20 cents and another 20 cents goes to Social Security. About 14 cents goes towards safety net programs. These are programs that help low-income families like SSI, Food Stamps, housing assistance, etc. Six cents goes towards debt interest. The remaining 1/5 of the budget has multiple programs receiving a few cents.
The Health programs need to be re-assessed and revamped. Too much fraud/not enough accountability are really causing these programs to spiral out of control. You may or may not like what is called Obamacare, but if it works the why it is supposed to, health care costs should stabilize and double digit increases should slow considerably.
Defense is a big issue for me. We spend 6 times what the second largest military spends (China)! Why? Why do we have to solve the worlds problems. Or worse yet keep creating new ones because of our policies? In 2010 we spent over $700 billion on Defense. For the Iraq and Afghanistan wars we have spent over a trillion dollars. Does the means justify the ends?
Like the medical care, we spend a lot on Social Security. Remember that when it was created in the New Deal, it was a sham. Not many people ever made it to retirement age. They knew that when the created it. It was designed to fill the budget coffers. But the crazy thing happened. Medical care became better and we started living longer. Now it is a shame how we are handling this white elephant. We need to save it now and roll back age requirements along with other reforms, but that is a hot potato no one wants to touch.
These three large expenditures are the problems that need to be addressed now to help with our debt instead of cutting programs to the poor. It is much easier to hurt the marginalized. They are poor and don't have a big voice. But these are the programs that need to be saved by the voices that are heard. They need to work on these issues.
The only way politics works is when the both sides compromise. Meet in the middle and agree. That is what must be done now. You should not care about 2012; care about 2011 now! Tell you representatives what needs to be done before our balloon pops on this debt ceiling.
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