We should, but we won’t

Robert Samuelson presents his wish list for government action. Sadly, I think this ship has sailed:

We should be preparing for aging baby boomers. Projected Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid costs could expand the federal budget by 30 percent to 40 percent by 2030. To limit these huge increases -- implying much higher taxes or draconian cuts in other programs -- we should gradually raise eligibility ages for Social Security and Medicare, as well as curb benefits for wealthier retirees. Instead, Bush worsened the outlook by enacting the biggest-ever expansion of Medicare. The new drug benefit will cost $792 billion from 2006 to 2015, estimates the Congressional Budget Office. Not surprisingly, Bush's ill-fated Social Security plan would also have increased spending.

Unfortunately, we now have a huge demographic group that has access to a whole grab bag of entitlements...a group that votes. There’s not much left to do but wait for the inevitable clash of generations.

Extra – More on Social Security from Don Luskin and Red State asks why spending cuts are nowhere on the GOP’s radar.