In its most recent review of federal spending, the Congressional Budget Office noted that Uncle Sam's fiscal bender shows no signs of ending:
The federal budget deficit totaled $509 billion in the first quarter of fiscal year 2024…That amount is $87 billion more than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year: Although revenues this year were $83 billion (or 8 percent) higher, outlays rose more—by $170 billion (or 12 percent).
That's not good. Particularly when the economy is growing, and unemployment is low. Where is the money going? One of the largest spending increases came from an entirely predictable source: interest on the federal debt:
Net outlays for interest on the public debt were substantially higher, increasing by $73 billion (or 49 percent), primarily because interest rates are significantly higher than they were in the first three months of fiscal year 2023.
And if we are to believe the Federal Reserve, interest rates will remain “higher for longer,” expect those interest payments to go even higher…thanks to the vicious circle of adding more debt at high interest rates to cover greater spending (rinse and repeat).
Where are the other holes in the government's fiscal bucket? Entitlements and defense spending: Social Security (up 12 percent), Medicare (up 13 percent), Defense (up 11 percent), and veterans benefits (up 16 percent).
Given all this, one might expect that fiscal reform, or at least a smidgeon of fiscal restraint, might be leading topic on the presidential campaign trail.
Hah, no. The major party frontrunners are bust running campaigns that are hell-bent on maintaining the status quo on entitlements, even if it bankrupts everyone's grandchildren in the process. Consider this gem from the recent New Hampshire Republican primary:
At a rally in Concord, N.H., Friday night, [former President Donald Trump] portrayed [former South Carolina Gov. Nikki] Haley as someone who “wants to wipe out your Social Security,” raise the retirement age to 75, “and then you're dead.”
A Trump radio ad placed in New Hampshire [before the vote] said Ms. Haley's “devious plan” would “shockingly change the rules” on federal programs for older Americans by raising the retirement age. And a television ad, titled “Threat From Within” and placed the day before, featured retirees looking stricken as they hear that “Haley's plan cuts Social Security benefits for 82 percent of Americans,” before being reassured, “Trump will never let that happen.”
Because nothing says “conservative Republican like [checks notes] bashing a fellow Republican for talking about entitlement reform.
It's bad enough that Trump is channeling Lyndon Johnson on Social Security. Or maybe it's not bad so much as very on-brand for Trump and the party he very much continues to lead.
But there was a time, and not long ago, when entitlement reform was a conservative, and even a Republican, thing. Take it from “Mr. Conservative” himself: the late Sen. Barry Goldwater:
On Jan. 7 [1964] at Concord, N. H., on the first day of campaigning in the New Hampshire Presidential primary, Mr. Goldwater said:
“I would like to suggest one change, that Social Security be made voluntary.”
He said then that if anyone wanted to provide his own retirement protection, “let him do it.”
It would get him drummed out of today's Trumpian GOP.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
