Replies to post #6513 on S WAVE CHARTS

[snootmagruder]

JLS, Concerning your chart, it shows the dotted line just above the bar chart for current, However 2012 spending was like 3.8 trillion with a 1.3 trillion deficit. That dotted line should be much lower I think? Spending is like 34% higher than revenue and will take extreme cuts to reach a balance.

[porter]

<...when the SS Act was passed, it was expected that only half of the... population would receive ...benefits.>

From experience:
It requires $6000/ month for "assisted living" to "house" each parent over 100 years of age.

It makes for a rather interesting future.

[porter]

It's fascinating how writers spin their interpretations of data.

Rashomon: Three Views

Number 1

Federal Budget
By
Michael D. Tanner
March 28, 2011

The U.S. government is about to exceed its statutory debt limit of $14.3 trillion.
...
Driving this massive increase in the size and cost of government are so-called “entitlement programs,” ...Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Indeed, by 2050, those three programs alone will consume 18.4 percent of GDP.

Number 2

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/10/federal-spending-by-the-numbers-2012

Number 3

A Glossary of Political Economy Terms

by Dr. Paul M. Johnson

Entitlement programs ...include Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, most Veterans' Administration programs, federal employee and military retirement plans, unemployment compensation, food stamps, and agricultural price support programs.

Since the middle 1980s, entitlement programs have accounted for more than half of all federal spending. Entitlement programs leave Congress with no more than about 25% of the annual budget to be scrutinised for possible cutbacks....