Budget Realities

We seem to be on the cusp of electing Barack Obama as the next President of the United States, but the sad reality is that neither he nor John McCain has shown any creativity or will to address the long-term budget deficits that we are likely to incur. McCain may rail against earmarks, and Obama may wax poetic about unspecific efficiencies that we can bring about, but at the end of the day, the bulk of federal government spending is on three things: defense, Medicare, and Social Security. Two out of those three-- Medicare and Social Security-- are poised to grow unboundedly and eat up even larger portions of the budget, and are likely to go bankrupt unless fundamentally reformed. Time will tell how Obama proposes that we deal with this huge shortfall, and "redistributive change" from the top 5% will not even come close to solving the problem.