Steven Hayward posted an article at Power Line today noting some places where spending might be reasonably cut. He points out that although the current converstaion seems to be focused on Social Security and Medicare, there are other prorgrams that have grown totally out of control and need to be looked at.
Mr. Hayward points out:
"The four largest federally funded poverty programs--Medicaid, food stamps, housing subsidies, and supplemental income programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit--cost $650 billion last year, compared to $451 billion for Medicare. The real problem is not the high spending amounts per se, but the way they have expanded willy-nilly beyond the ranks of the truly poor, which has run up their price tags beyond where they ought to be. Some states offer benefits up to 200 percent of the poverty line, and Obamacare includes subsidies for people up to 400 percent of the poverty line--people ordinarily called "middle class.""
These programs need to be reexamined not only for their eligibility requirements, but also to evaluate the success of the program. Programs that do not do what they were designed to do need to be scrapped. The only thing that seems to be immortal in today's world is a government program.
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