Just take a look at this chart and you can see pretty clearly that there are really two programs that send our Federal budget deficits into the stratosphere and neither of them is defense spending or stimulus spending. We have wasted plenty of money over the past few years on foolish and frequently unnecessary Federal spending programs. Though enormously wasteful, government stimulus spending pales by comparison with two programs Americans have been paying into for years–Medicare and Social Security. Despite massive funding, both programs are going to consume a growing chunk of government spending as this chart shows:
Source: New York Times
We can and should cut back wasteful and unnecessary government spending at any level. Yet, as this chart from the liberal New York Times indicates, government spending is out of control due to these two programs.
Hat tip: Joseph Lawler
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Kurt Brouwer is a fee-only financial advisor with three decades of experience. He is the chairman and co-founder of Brouwer & Janachowski, LLC. Kurt has written books, articles and hundreds of blog posts on mutual funds, ETFs and other investment topics. E-mail: kurt.brouwer *at* gmail.com.
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