The good news is that even modest adjustments to benefit spending today can result in large gains in solvency over time.
Most notably, an employer-based health insurance system is monstrously inefficient, ineffective and unjust, hence our spending is almost twice that of other developed nations with among the worst outcomes in terms of health and longevity.
And, our defense spending remains unsustainable and needs to be strategically re-imagined to suit the geopolitical circumstances of our times at meaningfully reduced levels.
Equally importantly, the revenue side of the equation cannot be ignored. Political leaders in the US have indulged our citizenry with unrealistically low levels of paid taxation given the socio-economic needs of the nation in modern times.
A greatly simplified tax code that actually results in all people contributing and people of extreme means paying a larger share than currently is essential.
All these may be seemingly 'undesirable' remedies and components of a restoration of our collective fiscal health; but, if we fail to take them during times of relative peace and prosperity, future generations will be saddled with an intractable challenge that could well result in civil unrest and a fracturing of our national polity.
I do not believe it is my role to comment on specific solutions. It seems that most people don’t even recognize that there is a real problem, and that is my focus. The only thing I will say, however, is that we can be confident that a comprehensive solution will work if everybody feels the pain of having to give things up. That is what it means to sacrifice, and it seems too many Americans have lost sight of that concept.
Amen, Mark!
The good news is that even modest adjustments to benefit spending today can result in large gains in solvency over time.
Most notably, an employer-based health insurance system is monstrously inefficient, ineffective and unjust, hence our spending is almost twice that of other developed nations with among the worst outcomes in terms of health and longevity.
And, our defense spending remains unsustainable and needs to be strategically re-imagined to suit the geopolitical circumstances of our times at meaningfully reduced levels.
Equally importantly, the revenue side of the equation cannot be ignored. Political leaders in the US have indulged our citizenry with unrealistically low levels of paid taxation given the socio-economic needs of the nation in modern times.
A greatly simplified tax code that actually results in all people contributing and people of extreme means paying a larger share than currently is essential.
All these may be seemingly 'undesirable' remedies and components of a restoration of our collective fiscal health; but, if we fail to take them during times of relative peace and prosperity, future generations will be saddled with an intractable challenge that could well result in civil unrest and a fracturing of our national polity.
I do not believe it is my role to comment on specific solutions. It seems that most people don’t even recognize that there is a real problem, and that is my focus. The only thing I will say, however, is that we can be confident that a comprehensive solution will work if everybody feels the pain of having to give things up. That is what it means to sacrifice, and it seems too many Americans have lost sight of that concept.