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If welfare reform is considered a success, then why not apply the same principles to others who get government money?
Most of what the government does could be called welfare, using a very broad definition of the word. It's not hard to find individuals, corporations, states or communities hooked on one Washington handout or another. The result of this largesse is a society that is unproductively dependent on government support - and politically organized to keep it coming.
Agriculture is a leading example. Supports have become a sad hoax on the U.S. taxpayer. According to a recent report by The Washington Post, the government has handed out $1.3 billion since 2000 to people who don't even farm. It has sent billions of dollars in drought relief to areas where there was no drought. And, oh yes, it has paid out a staggering $144 billion over 10 years, according to the National Taxpayers Union, 72% of which went to the 10% of farmers with the largest holdings. Such spending is an insult to hardworking, unsubsidized, Americans. Wasteful farm programs should be cut.
The federal budget is replete with hundreds of payments to, and tax benefits for, other politically potent industries. This "corporate welfare" ranges from government-funded logging roads to subsidies for electric utilities. Last year, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, Congress earmarked 15,877 items worth $47.4 billion to specific recipients, many of them companies with well-connected Washington lobbyists.
This not only squanders taxpayers' money, it also clogs decision-making in the private sector. Rather than making a smart business decision promptly, companies wait to see whether they can make more by delaying and doing something that could be less sensible.
Local and state governments suffer from the same disease. The U.S. Conference of Mayors reported last week that nearly five years after 9/11, 80% of communities still don't have a way for their emergency services to communicate effectively with each other. One reason cited: Not enough money from Washington. If they were cut off, would they fix it themselves?
Then there are the federal entitlement programs:
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The parallel to welfare is imperfect. People pay throughout their working lives to get into the first two, and in most cases all three provide vital support. But escalating medical costs and the aging of the population will soon make them unaffordable, ensuring benefit cuts, tax increases or both. Some steps toward greater responsibility could help, such as reducing incentives for early retirement, and increasing premiums and co-payments for wealthy Medicare recipients.
Looking at all of these programs, it's no wonder the government will spend $300 billion more than it collects this year. As the welfare reformers were saying a decade ago, federal generosity has created a corrosive culture of dependency. Restoring fiscal sanity will require controlling welfare payments - and not just those going to the poor.
A good example of many of the problems in the government. It's unfortunate how politicians like to bribe people with their own money, but nobody wants to give up all their precious government services.
The first thing to be done is get rid of Medicare to cut down trillions of future liabilities. And the last thing we need is more handouts like "universal" health care.
If welfare reform is considered a success, then why not apply the same principles to others who get government money?
Most of what the government does could be called welfare, using a very broad definition of the word. It's not hard to find individuals, corporations, states or communities hooked on one Washington handout or another. The result of this largesse is a society that is unproductively dependent on government support - and politically organized to keep it coming.
Agriculture is a leading example. Supports have become a sad hoax on the U.S. taxpayer. According to a recent report by The Washington Post, the government has handed out $1.3 billion since 2000 to people who don't even farm. It has sent billions of dollars in drought relief to areas where there was no drought. And, oh yes, it has paid out a staggering $144 billion over 10 years, according to the National Taxpayers Union, 72% of which went to the 10% of farmers with the largest holdings. Such spending is an insult to hardworking, unsubsidized, Americans. Wasteful farm programs should be cut.
The federal budget is replete with hundreds of payments to, and tax benefits for, other politically potent industries. This "corporate welfare" ranges from government-funded logging roads to subsidies for electric utilities. Last year, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service, Congress earmarked 15,877 items worth $47.4 billion to specific recipients, many of them companies with well-connected Washington lobbyists.
This not only squanders taxpayers' money, it also clogs decision-making in the private sector. Rather than making a smart business decision promptly, companies wait to see whether they can make more by delaying and doing something that could be less sensible.
Local and state governments suffer from the same disease. The U.S. Conference of Mayors reported last week that nearly five years after 9/11, 80% of communities still don't have a way for their emergency services to communicate effectively with each other. One reason cited: Not enough money from Washington. If they were cut off, would they fix it themselves?
Then there are the federal entitlement programs:
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The parallel to welfare is imperfect. People pay throughout their working lives to get into the first two, and in most cases all three provide vital support. But escalating medical costs and the aging of the population will soon make them unaffordable, ensuring benefit cuts, tax increases or both. Some steps toward greater responsibility could help, such as reducing incentives for early retirement, and increasing premiums and co-payments for wealthy Medicare recipients.
Looking at all of these programs, it's no wonder the government will spend $300 billion more than it collects this year. As the welfare reformers were saying a decade ago, federal generosity has created a corrosive culture of dependency. Restoring fiscal sanity will require controlling welfare payments - and not just those going to the poor.
A good example of many of the problems in the government. It's unfortunate how politicians like to bribe people with their own money, but nobody wants to give up all their precious government services.
The first thing to be done is get rid of Medicare to cut down trillions of future liabilities. And the last thing we need is more handouts like "universal" health care.
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