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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JohnM who wrote (10842)	2/3/2006 9:58:14 PM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 541925

I don't have access to the WSJ. So, when folk talk about cutting entitlements as if that's the big budget problem, I get a little warm under the proverbial collar. If that's what the article did, I can sympathize with your reaction. Given that the defense and debt problems have ballooned under Bush, it's really audacious to make entitlements the scapegoat, which are a problem, too, but not a problem that Bush created.

To: JohnM who wrote (10842)	2/6/2006 2:40:49 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541925

So, when folk talk about cutting entitlements as if that's the big budget problem It is the big budget problem. Entitlements are the largest part of the budget, and they are currently locked in to a formula where growth will continue for decades. You have the specific problem of the baby boom generation moving towards retirement, and also the longer term problem where the retirement age is not moving up as fast as the average life span. These facts have a lot bigger impact on our fiscal situation than Iraq. A decent article would at least mention those items. If the article is about the problems created by the situation with entitlements than there isn't much reason to do so. If OTOH the article claims to represent a full accounting for the problems with our fiscal situation than I agree with you. I clicked on your link to check for myself but I'm not a subscriber. Tim