November 22, 2011
Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson wants to know why the supercommittee isn’t cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits. After all, “… these ‘entitlements’ are the central cause of long-term budget deficits” and “[f]rom 2005 to 2035, their cost will nearly double as a share of national income,” writes Samuelson. Over at Beat the Press, Dean Baker notes that yes, Medicare costs are expected to greatly increase over the next two decades, but the same is not necessarily true for Social Security. So if you bundle Medicare together with any program (Dean suggests “national park maintenance”) you can make it look like that second program is also experiencing explosive growth. Give it a try in the comments below!
