Juggling Dynamite

One of the most essential areas of US budget reform needed is an overhaul of the mathematically unsustainable Medicare system. Obamacare approached this, but largely failed, unable to dent the entrenched interests of the many ‘for profit’ sectors directing Congress. Steve Kroft investigates allegations from doctors that the hospital chain they worked for pressured them to admit patients regardless of their medical needs.Here is a direct link.

What is a fair tax code? Amid debate about taxes, the New York Times examines questions of equitability. Here is a direct link to a video report.

The US faces the same issue as many aging nations today where entitlement promises become a ‘fiscal mountain’ over the next 19 years as the boomers move through. The top graph below shows how quickly costs will escalate and compound and especially once interest rates moderate away from the zero bound eventually over time. The growth rate in commitments is simply not something a smaller population of workers will be able to support.

But worse, as compared to other OECD nations, for the past 12 years the US has been collecting the lowest tax ratio from its populace. There are costs to maintaining a civil society, and for years now, US taxpayers have simply not been paying enough into their country’s coffers.