Wednesday night, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H.R.3567; The Welfare Integrity Now for Children and Families Act of 2011; which makes it illegal to use an EBT card in a strip club, liquor store or casino. The concern began, shortly after welfare recipients were issued funds electronically through ATMs, when Welfare Reform passed in 1996. Since then there has been a disturbing trend of welfare not being spent on the things people think welfare should be spent on.

And I don’t understand that concern. It is the theory of most Democrats that giving money to people stimulates the economy. It should be of no concern to anyone whether that money is used to stimulate patrons of a strip club, liquor store owners, or casino magnates (who BTW are often HUGE political contributors).

The bill is almost completely futile. It won’t insure that welfare money is not spent at a strip club; it only means that the ATM at the gas station across the street from the strip club is going to see a lot more traffic.

This is just the kind of government bias, that gives legitimate business a bad name. Certainly those girls are working as hard as any SEIU employee; whose pensions were paid out of stimulus funds, while they protested in Wisconsin. Money spent on bikini wax, cover stick, and glittery lingerie will trickle down through the economy just like any other stimulus package.

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As others have noted, this past Tuesday marked the 1,000th day since the Senate has passed a budget. Heritage’s Mike Brownfield explains:

Instead of respecting the people’s money and putting it to its appropriate use, the Senate has chosen to pass short-term “business as usual” continuing resolutions, one after another, all while government spending continues to skyrocket, deficits are exploding, the country’s credit rating is in jeopardy, Social Security and Medicare are in crisis states, and future generations are left holding the bag.

As we point out in our new video, plenty of great achievements in history have been made in less than 1,000 days. And all the American people are asking of the Senate is that they pass a budget. If Christopher Columbus can discover the New World in 70 days, why can’t the Senate pass a budget in less than 1,000 days?

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The United States is at a fork in the road regarding which way we will go as a people. The 2012 election could be the most important in our lifetime, and conservative leaders have reached a consensus on how to channel the energy and concerns of the American people to realize historic change this year.

The status quo will not survive the year. Our debt and spending have reached catastrophic proportions in the context of global financial difficulties and political upheaval. Consequently, by the end of 2012, America will either have taken a decisive step toward socialistic collectivism in the name of “equality” and “social justice,” where businesses and owners are punitively taxed to “pay their fair share,” or America will take a major step in the direction of returning to our Founders’ constitutional government, restoring the rule of law, federalism, free enterprise, and individual initiative and responsibility.

The American people will decide which path to take in the 2012 elections, not only in the general election on November 6 but also in the nominating process in primaries over the next several months for all major offices, including the presidency. Conservatives must act in a concerted and informed fashion in all of these contests to shape the public dialogue and thoroughly vet the candidates.

To achieve these ends, top conservative leaders acting under the umbrella of the Conservative Action Project have released “A Conservative Consensus for 2012” announcing agreement on major policies. These issues span all three wings of the conservative movement: economic, social, and national security.

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As we enter 2012, the presidential candidates would do well to wrap their minds and messages around these seven mathematical facts:

1. Every day, the U.S. government takes in $6 billion and spends $10 billion.  This means that every day the federal government spends $4 billion more dollars than it has.
2. The real unemployment rate is a jaw-dropping 11 percent.
3. Every fifth man you pass on your way to work is now out of work.
4. College graduates are now 34% less likely to find a job under Obama than they were under President George W. Bush.
5. Every seventh person you pass on the sidewalk now relies on food stamps.
6. The ravages of the Obama economy now mean that more Americans live under the federal poverty line than at any time in U.S. history since records have been kept.
7. Under President Barack Obama, every fifth child in America now lives in poverty.

These are not partisan jabs, manufactured statistics, or ideological swipes.  These are mathematical facts.  And the presidential candidate who can most clearly and credibly articulate them—and their concomitant solutions—is bound to win.

Why?  Because these facts point toward the solutions America must implement to avert the kinds of economic and social upheaval seen in Europe and elsewhere.

Start with mathematical fact number one—deficit spending.  No person, family, business, or nation can spend more than it takes in and remain sustainable; it defies the simple laws of math and reason.  And yet even as Washington hemorrhages $4 billion more than it has each day, citizens have watched as the farce that is “Super Committee” has proven it cannot even shave $1.2 trillion from America’s $15 trillion debt.

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Our nation will spend more than $40 trillion over the next ten years with at least $15 trillion in deficit spending, while Congress is arguing about how to reduce that deficit by all of 8% – really?  With this nonsense debate going on, Mr. Obama has abdicated his presidency and is now campaigning for reelection on a full-time basis.  The rest of the world, meanwhile, is simply falling apart.

The Muslim Brotherhood is coming to power in Egypt, Iran is moving deliberately toward nuclear armament and Europe is proving that socialist democracies will fall at their own hand.  In the midst of this turmoil, the media has our people focusing on why the top 1% paying 50% of all federal taxes falls short of “their fair share” and why entitlements and government needs to keep growing.  We are missing the point – eliminate the noise and the real debate is simply whether our children live free or for the benefit of the state?

Let’s forget all the facts and figures about our growing debt and the increasing involvement of government in our lives and focus on the fundamental definition of liberty: liberty is the freedom from arbitrary control; it is freedom to exercise the unalienable rights endowed upon us by our Creator; it is freedom from oppressive power exerted by government; and it is freedom from all forms of tyranny.  While people demand that their neighbors who may be better off economically should be ordered – by law – to share their success with them, what they are really promoting is the ascendancy of the state over the people.  What they are missing is that they are demanding the suppression of liberty for their neighbors, themselves and their own children.

The systematic destruction of our economic strength through increased regulation, increased taxation on the job creators, a 50% increase in the national debt in just the last three years and an equal increase in the dependency on foreign governments to fund our debt has turned our nation upside down.  We have gone from the world’s last hope to a sideshow and find our great country powerless to help prevent ally nations from economic decline and powerless to stop the rise of tyrannical regimes.

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I believe in girl power. I’ve been a proponent of it long before the ridiculous Power Puff Girls and those sassy Spice Girls made the term part of our vernacular.

I’m of the mind a woman can do anything she puts her mind to – and isn’t limited by the fact that she is a woman.

Don’t get me wrong. I do believe some things are meant to be done by men only – err taking out the trash or mowing the lawn to name a few, but hell- if I wanna do them I’m perfectly capable of it and don’t you doubt it (I really despise taking out the trash. Don’t know why … I just do).

Women can fight in wars. They can die for their country. They can fly planes, build bridges, perform brain surgery and even help build the space shuttle (Sing it with me now: ‘bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never ever let you forget you’re a man …’). But apparently, they’re not equipped to be significantly represented on the ‘Super Committee.’

We represent 50.7 percent of the population in the United States. The Democrats, claiming to be progressive, placed only one woman on the 12-person Debt Reduction committee. If the committee, appointed by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, didn’t want to be representative of the American population, it could’ve at least been sensitive to the 93 women serving in Congress. This would’ve required the placement of at least 2 women on the panel. But no.

Reid and Pelosi were too concerned with making sure all minority groups were represented. One African-American Congressman was chosen (According to the Census, 12.6 percent of the population is African American. 44 are in the 112th Congress — or 8.1 percent of the total membership) and one Latino is on the committee (There are 31 Hispanic or Latino members of the 112th Congress, which is 5.7 percent of the total congressional membership. Hispanics and Latinos make up 16.3 percent of the U.S. population.)

What is the significance of this? To me, it’s clear. The democrats care more about the minority vote than they do about the gender vote because they feel they’ve already got it in the bag! (more…)

Washington DC,
August 10, 2011

Dear taxpayers, we were slightly off in our projections for economic recovery. You may have heard about this. There have been some externalities that even the smartest economists could not account for. The earthquake in Japan really fouled things up for everyone. However, we’ll keep plodding ahead with same proven fiscal policies. Rest calmly, our trusted accountants are already discovering new and exciting ways to increase “intragovernmental transfers.”

We are trying to boost the economy by telling the consumer — that means you — to spend, and to help you spend we’ll print more money and give it you. By the way, we plan to tax that money and the things you buy — expect increases on those items as well. Yes, unfortunately, it will cost money in order for us to give you “free” money. Don’t worry; governments don’t file for bankruptcy even when we are in fact bankrupt. We’ll print more money to spend ourselves out of this. We own the presses and we can do this. So we are good for it. We only ask that you handle the inflation…because in a way we are bankrupt, but like I said, governments don’t file for bankruptcy. Still with me?

We cannot guarantee currency integrity during this deficit spending while substantially adding to our national debt. We don’t have enough gold for that. Besides, there really isn’t enough wealth in the world to cover all the borrowing that is going on world wide right now. So to help cover some of the revenue, we’ll raise taxes on businesses that we are giving benefits to. You see that is how government revenue works.

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I get tired constantly repeating myself to my fine friends who are on the Left side of the political spectrum when it comes to economic, fiscal, and business realities.  It’s not their fault.  I used to be the same way.  However, following up on a good article about economics for dummies, I thought I’d add some basic concepts that everyone should understand — regardless of political beliefs.

This stuff isn’t that hard to understand.  My old high school math teacher would just drill me over and over on something until I got it.

Risk, Reward, and Investment

A rich person makes all his income, more than $250,000 each year, from investment income only.

Investment involves taking a risk.  In exchange for that risk, an investor is rewarded.  The greater the risk, the greater the reward.

Imagine two cups.  Under one is a dollar.  You bet one dollar and choose one cup.   The odds of picking the right cup are 1-1.  If you are right, you win one dollar.

Imagine ten cups.  Under one cup is ten dollars.  You bet one dollar but choose only one cup.  The risk of choosing the right cup has gone up to 9-1 against you.   Don’t you think you deserve a higher reward for choosing that one right cup?

If you don’t think so, I have a bridge I’d like to sell you.

Investment works the same way.

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Candidate Obama said he would “transform the Untied States of America” and unfortunately this is the one promise he kept.  Two and one half years into his presidency, the National Debt has climbed to 100% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first time since World War II; GDP growth for the first six months of this year has been a meager 0.8%; we continue to run a $1.5 trillion annual deficit, essentially growing the Debt by 10% versus the 0.8% GDP growth; 25 million Americans are unemployed, under-employed or have dropped out of the work force; 45 million Americans are on food stamps; and now Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has downgraded our country’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ for the first time in our history.  America has truly been transformed!

I could add to this list a number of foreign policy decisions that have elevated our enemies and trashed our long-time allies, but the economic failures of this president are more striking and more easily understood.  His $900 billion economic stimulus bill did little more than pay the salaries of state workers for one year and increased the Debt.  His re-distributive one-time programs of cash for clunkers and mortgage-restructuring failed and added to the Debt.  The overbearing healthcare legislation, that the Congressional Budget Office now says will increase the cost of healthcare, did nothing but create uncertainty for business.  Massive new and restrictive regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Congress, when under full Democratic control, has forced private capital to the sidelines and almost completely stalled economic growth.  These are only some examples of Mr. Obama’s transformation of our country.

S&P warned us several months ago that our credit rating was in danger of a downgrade and pointed to the lack of leadership in Washington, D.C. as the main problem.  Mr. Obama still does not get it.  His reaction to the weak GDP growth and recent slide in the equities markets was to blame the earthquake in Japan, the economic problems in Europe and the uprisings that formed the Arab Spring.  His supporters are already saying publicly that Obama inherited a situation that was “worse than we thought.” Translation – blame former President Bush.  Mr. Obama will not take responsibility for a failing economy that he has managed since January of 2009 and it is this clear lack of leadership that is at the root of S&P’s downgrade.

The truth is that Mr. Obama’s socialist experiment of hyper-spending has done nothing more than add $4.5 trillion, or 45%, to the Debt since taking office.  He has over regulated the economy into a private sector coma.  It is time for real leadership and a return to free market capitalism. S&P made that clear with its downgrade.

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The Talmud says: “One should not extravagantly distribute more than one fifth of one’s income to charity.” Are the sages saying there’s a ceiling cap on giving charity? Yes they are, because if everyone were to give too much away there would be too many mouths to feed.

If you have been getting information from the mainstream media you may think tea partiers are forcing Republicans in Congress to; cut the budget so much people will be forced to push grandma’s wheelchair off a cliff or, are trying force the country into default guaranteeing Obama won’t be reelected.

Not true! It’s all about not having too many mouths to feed.

The debt ceiling’s the congressionally approved amount the federal government can borrow. The ceiling is currently set at $14.294 trillion. The country’s debt hit that figure on May 16 and we are currently approaching $14.6 trillion in debt. Thanks to some “re-arranging,” the Treasury Department says we won’t “run out of money” until August 2.

The MSM and progressive politicians report if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by August 2, a biblical-type disaster will occur, wrath of God type stuff; fire and brimstone falling from the skies! Rivers boiling! Earthquakes, volcanoes, Human sacrifice, nothing but Dennis Kuchinich speeches on your TV set … mass hysteria (that premise is false)!

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Recently it was concluded that the era of recovery under Obama is dead. In fact, it was never really born. President Obama chose more regulation and more spending as means to reverse our declining economy. Businesses are loath to hire, invest, and expand it an unfriendly, insecure environment. To show this is more than just election time rhetoric consider this point. “About 6.2 million Americans, 45.1 percent of all unemployed workers in this country, have been jobless for more than six months – a higher percentage than during the Great Depression.”

There has been no recovery; in fact, things have gotten worse since Obama has held office.

As a result, he has lost the bin Laden “bounce“. An accomplishment that he should have been able to hang his hat on. However, perspective and priorities are what a president must contend. A bad economy his foremost in people’s mind. After all, the daily lives of millions hinge on opportunity and financial security. The awesome action in taking out bin Laden was a blip on the radar when it comes to what really matters. It doesn’t put people back to work, raise wages, or keep people in their homes. Obama owns this economic mess and now he and his fellow Democrats are prepared to trademark it.

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It is going to be a long hot summer as Congress and the Obama Administration debate how best to bring down America’s $14 trillion debt. Our crushing debt is as much a national security threat as it is an economic disaster. Many nations own our enormous amounts of debt, some of these entities are nefarious in nature – like China, Russia, and OPEC. If these nations sell off our debt, they can wield great power over America.

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said last year, “The most significant threat to our national security is our debt.” The Obama Administration must find a way to cut trillions – not billions – when it comes to our crippling debt. America is at a crossroads, where we can act boldly now, or put our security at risk by doing nothing.

According to President Obama’s own budget, interest payments for the national debt will quadruple from $186.9 billion in 2009 to $768.2 billion in 2020. That equals $2,500 for every man, woman, and child to pay off just the interest to our national debt every year. The American taxpayer will be drowning in the interest we pay. Remember, the $768.2 billion Americans will be paying in 2020 does not bring down our national debt; it just pays off the interest the debt has accrued!

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I tuned in for the first GOP debate held in South Carolina. Everyone did fine. I laughed, I cried, and had some chicken nuggets. A few at the podiums were more polished than others. Pawlenty seemed to distance himself from the pack in key places. Overall, the opinions and styles were as numerous as the questions being asked. Having said that, none present tonight showcased the ability or the talent to go all the way. Even a wounded Obama is still a formidable Obama, and a sitting president has a four year record to run on — good, bad, or indifferent. And when you don’t point out the bad, that leaves the good and the indifferent.

Certainly, President Obama will have the biggest and shiniest trophy in which to hold and parade around the country: Osama bin Laden. And what a trophy it is. President Obama was in charge when the most wanted person on earth was finally brought to justice. Obama will go down in presidential history as the owner and author of one of the greatest foreign policy achievements in our nation’s history. Undoubtedly he should win an easy ….. Wait a minute: Didn’t George H.W. Bush also receive similar praise for assembling and leading a multi-national military force against Saddam Hussein in the first Persian Gulf War?

The Republican candidates must not fall for the trap of having the foreign policy angle used against them. As if questioning the president on his foreign policy agenda is now all the sudden not an option. There are plenty of past and current decisions in which to choose from that shows President Obama’s lack of strategic insight. More importantly, they must not allow it to prevent them from discussing the real issue in America and for Americans.

The Republicans may not have a trophy such as OBL but they do hold kryptonite and it’s called the economy.

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Standard & Poors (S&P), the credit rating agency that started in business more than 150 years ago and operates in 23 countries, issued the ultimate in realty checks this week when they downgraded its credit outlook for the United States.  S&P cited a “material risk” that policymakers may not reach agreement on a plan to trim the large federal budget deficit.

While the agency maintained the country’s top AAA credit rating, it said “Authorities have not made clear how they will tackle long-term fiscal pressures.” S&P said the move signals there is at least a one-in-three chance that it could cut its long-term AAA rating on the United States within two years.

What would a credit rating downgrade mean to the average citizen?  Immediately following a downgrade, the interest required to refinance our debt would climb dramatically and the Federal Reserve would have to print more money resulting in a sharp devaluation of the dollar.  If you think $4 per gallon for gasoline is an outrage, try $8 per gallon or higher.  If you think that your 401(k) took a hit in 2009, how about a permanent hit due to the United States currency losing its value?  Food, energy, clothing, housing and all other staples of life will experience sharp and permanent price increases.  Unemployment will also rise as businesses attempt to adjust to a new and uncertain economy.

It should be absolutely clear that the growing national debt and continued federal budget deficits are a threat to our economy and a clear and present danger to our way of life.  President Obama took office with a $10 trillion debt and a $740 billion federal budget deficit.  Two years later the national debt is $14.2 trillion and the federal budget deficit has reached $1.6 trillion.  Mr. Obama and the Democrats insist that we need to keep spending, even though our debt will exceed our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the end of this year.  They insist that rolling back the George Bush era tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 per year and reductions in defense spending is the path to a solution.

The truth is that the additional revenue potential from rolling back those cuts would only equal a maximum of $64 billion per year.  The risk to jobs in our economy by increasing tax rates on many small businesses that are taxed as individuals, S-Corporations, is extremely high.  There could easily be a spike in unemployment as those business owners adjust their planning to preserve their net income.

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Loaded with misleading statements, demagoguery, political rhetoric and outright lies, Mr. Obama’s speech announcing his debt reduction plan was no more than the formal start to his re-election campaign with the establishment of a clear ideological line in the sand.  The American people now will begin a long debate on which side of that line they will stand.

On one side is the America that those who came before us worked hard for; sacrificed for; and many died for.  This is the America where individualism and self-reliance is real, not just the throw-away line that Mr. Obama opened his speech with.  This is the America where all are guaranteed equal opportunity, not equal outcome; the America where the efforts of citizens determine the winners and losers; the America where the current generation pays for itself and passes on the freedom to increase prosperity to the next generation.

On the other side stands a perverse vision of our country where the government makes choices for the citizens; determines who the winners are; and pays for all of the current generation’s desires with liens on the labor of future generations.

In his own words, Mr. Obama declared, “This is not about debt reduction; this is about what kind of country we want to be.” However if we don’t begin to focus on the run-a-way spending of the federal government, our national debt will exceed our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before the end of this year and will double over the next ten years.  Our economy will collapse under the weight of that debt and the only kind of country we will be, is a failed one.

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With the Federal government scheduled to shut down on April 8, Congress is not only debating where to spend trillions of dollars in the next fiscal year, but also whether to raise the roof, i.e. the debt ceiling.  The debt ceiling simply represents a cap on the total debt the U.S. government can hold, and it is currently set at a whopping $14.294 trillion.  Though the resolution for this limit was signed a mere year ago, we are quickly approaching the limit and should reach it sometime in the first week of April.  Keep in perspective that it would take more than 31,000 years of earning $1 a day to make a measly $1 trillion of the total debt. The government has added to the total debt every year since 1960 (except for two years).  Worse yet, it has added over $5 trillion in the past three and a half years alone.  Wouldn’t common sense indicate that there’s little room to borrow more?  Apparently not.

The reality is that many lawmakers want to “stabilize the debt” by increasing the debt ceiling.  Of course, you can’t stabilize trillions of dollars.  So essentially, the government ends up selling more bonds just to pay interest on the national debt and pay for new spending.  What’s a few more hundred billion when you already owe several trillion?

Often, to explain how we must increase the debt ceiling, government plays on one major fear – the fear of U.S. default.  Those in support of raising the debt ceiling argue that if it’s not increased the government will not be able to meet obligations.  They essentially say the country will go bankrupt.  To prevent this very issue, the debt ceiling has been raised 74 times since March 1963.  The problem with this rationale is that it’s like urging a boat to take on more water to keep it from sinking.  Imagine meeting with your financial planner and hearing him say, “In these tough financial times I recommend you add to your debt in order to stay solvent.”  I hope you would quickly find a new financial planner.

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America’s unsustainable $14 trillion debt will cripple our nation if we do not stop the spending.  The Obama Administration and Congressional Democrats appear to be unable to garner the strength to curb the debt problem.  One need look no further than Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plea earlier this week to save federal funds for a cowboy poetry festival in his home state of Nevada to see how seriously Democrats take spending taxpayer money.

Obamacare, which was signed into law nearly a year ago, will cost Americans at least a trillion dollars.  With our $14 trillion debt continuing to grow, America simply does not have the money to finance Obamacare.  The lackadaisical approach to cutting spending that the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress are taking is shameful.  The Republican-controlled House of Representatives must take the necessary steps to defund Obamacare in its entirety.

The House of Representatives has restricted funding through the appropriations process, but there appears to be $105.5 billion that has been automatically appropriated to fund Obamacare. The $105 billion is up-front spending that will help startup Obamacare.

This automatic funding is what happens when a bill of this magnitude is rushed through the Congress and not properly vetted, debated, or considered.  Obamacare is a 2,000 page law that no one bothered to read or understand.  The Obama Administration has already issued 1,000 waivers because of this confusion.  What happened last year is not how government is supposed to work.  If the House of Representatives does not act now, then the gravy train known as Obamacare will leave the station.

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The numbers being floated around by President Obama and Congressional Democrats during this year’s budget battle are all spin and sleight of hand. Not that this should surprise anyone – the President has a history of using smoke and mirrors – especially when it comes to taxpayer dollars.

Last year’s Democrat-controlled Congress failed to pass a budget for Fiscal Year 2011, so the government is currently being funded mostly at 2010 levels. While the administration claims it has offered to cut $51 billion, about $41 billion of that is based on a budget proposal that was never enacted, so the real number is closer to $10 billion. Compare this to House Republicans who voted in February to enact $61 billion in real cuts. Like most important legislative matters, the President has chosen not to lead, but to instead hide behind budget gimmicks to give the appearance that he is taking our fiscal crisis seriously.

The Obama Administration has used these kinds of budget tricks in the past, most notably when pushing Obamacare through early last year. Just last week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius admitted at a hearing on Capitol Hill that the administration double counted $500 billion in Medicare cuts. When pressed by Congressman John Shimkus (R-Ill) on what the $500 billion was for – preserving Medicare or funding Obamacare – Secretary Sebelius unbelievably responded, “Both.” The shenanigans that the Obama Administration and Democrats in Congress pulled to pass Obamacare are finally coming to light and they are the same kind of tactics that the Obama Administration is employing in the current budget fight.

With less than ten legislative days to work out a deal, you would think the White House would be burning the midnight oil to avoid a shutdown. Last week, President Obama, in his infinite wisdom, appointed Vice President Joe Biden as the administration’s point person in the budget talks. One problem: the Vice President is going to Europe this week and will not be able to participate. Meanwhile, President Obama played his 60th round of golf this weekend. If President Obama is concerned about a government shutdown, he and his administration are certainly not showing it.

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Wake up America.  We are heading head long into a brick wall and we are ignoring it.  While our elected officials debate spending cuts in the range of $50 billion to $100 billion, our nation is facing trillion dollar deficits for years to come.  The new ten year forecast by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), scrubbed by The Heritage Foundation of unrealistic assumptions the CBO is required to use, predicts an additional $13.6 trillion will be added to the national debt over the next ten years.  Simply put, by 2021 our debt will climb to $27.9 trillion and will require nearly half of all federal income tax revenues just to pay the interest.

The major reason for this crisis is clear, but there is little courage in Washington, D.C. to address it.  Here it is.  Medicare expenditures have grown 81% since 2000 and Medicaid expenditures have grown 87% since 2000.  It gets worse.  Today there are 39 million Americans over the age of 65, but that number has been growing at the average rate of 10,000 per day since January 1^st of this year and will continue to grow at this rate for the next ten years.  Why?  Baby Boomers born between 1946 and 1955, approximately 36 million, will turn 65 over that period of time and become eligible for Medicare.  With life expectancy at 78 for men and 80 for women, we can safely assume that there will be almost twice as many Americans over the age of 65 by 2021.

Persistent slow growth in the economy due the drag of massive federal debt combined with heavily restrictive regulations on business will continue to suppress job growth and force more citizens on Medicaid.  By 2021 the other half of all federal income tax revenue will be required to pay for Medicare and Medicaid.  Even if we assume that Social Security will pay for itself, which will require substantial tax and benefit reform, where will we find the money to fund all other government expenses – including defense and other entitlement programs such as food stamps?  There is not enough rich, middle-class, corporate or any other income that can be taxed more in order to solve this problem.

The only answer is Medicare and Medicaid reform.

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