Every day in the conservative media I hear about slashing benefits in the “entitlement” sector, and while that may sound good, it’s total boshat, and of the highest order.
Almost everything the conservative media decries as wasteful “entitlement” spending is actually fully funded, and has been for generations. So let’s get real.
These aren’t things people feel entitled to. These are things people deserve, and have earned, whether by paying into them, or by participating in one of our many American programs.
To take them away from them, just because rich people don’t want to pay taxes, would be shameful.
G.I. Bill
This was part of the enrollment offer. These soldiers were offered this as part of their package to participate in our voluntary armed services. It’s not as good as it has been in the past, and there are tons of hoops to jump through, to call this an “entitlement” rather than a benefit is sickening, and serves a major disservice to our troops.
Medicare
Medicare is not an entitlement, but the benefit of an insurance program. Citizens collecting from Medicare spent decades faithfully paying in to the system, and what they get now is lowest-tier coverage with often unaffordable deductibles. This isn’t a government freebie, they bought insurance, and they deserve to collect.
Social Security
This is not an entitlement. This is the best example by far. It’s literally called “Social Security Insurance”. You pay into it a massive percentage of your income, your employer pays that much to match, and it isn’t even optional, but compulsory. At the end of the day, you get a few bucks to help you cover your basic needs into retirement.
And while many attack this as an easy place to cut from the budget, remember that the Social Security trust is still solvent well into the next five decades, even with the Baby Boomers retiring. The numbers prove it, we don’t need to cut from Social Security to balance the budget. In fact, the Social Security funds have helped balance the budget. George W. Bush specifically borrowed from them to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Food Stamps
The government will spend $65 billion on food stamps this year. This is aid to households that literally cannot buy food for themselves. Out of $3.76 Trillion dollars, a whopping $65 billion will be spent on food stamps. That’s an unimaginable 1.64% of the total federal expenditure wasted on giving children who would otherwise be malnurished the chance to actually eat some food. Oh, the humanity!
TANF
Call this “welfare” if you like. That’s what it used to be, but now families can only be on it for a couple years, and at a maximum benefit of $500 or so per month. This is a miniscule fraction of government spending, and the restrictions on it are so man that it’s absurd to even discuss it. Even the conservatives tread lightly on these grounds, as it’s all but been disproved as a bugaboo.
VA
To argue this would be absurd. If soldiers signed up voluntarily and serverd honorably, they deserve all the Veteran’s Administration benefits they were promised when they went in. We can’t cut this. To do so would be to shoot our soldiers in the dick.
WIC (government cheese)
First of all, let’s make it clear. WIC is NOT a giveaway to poor mothers with malnourished children, but as USDA program designed an implemented to benefit farmers.
The total WIC budget is $7.04 billion, which is 1.7% of the federal budget. And if you have a problem with it, you should talk to the farmers, not the malnourished children. Don’t like what it’s being spent on? Too much cheese and not enough soy or other things? Too much American cheese and not enough lower-cost cheeses of equal quality from other countries? That’s all subsidies to American farmers, don’t blame the mothers.
Home Mortgage Interest Deduction
Hundreds of billions are lost each year through the home mortgage interest deduction. Many Americans might look at this in the context of entitlement and balk, but it is a gimme from the feds to your pocket book. Why do people lucky enough to buy their home enjoy tax benefits excluded from those who have no choice but to rent?
It makes no sense. Those who can afford to buy are already doing pretty well, but those stuck renting can’t even afford enough to step up and buy a house, like you. This is the biggest entitlement in the tax code, and it deserves a second consideration. Is this an entitlement, or a right? Is this fair, or a drain on our revenue as a nation?
Student Loans
Can we really call this an entitlement? Really??? Well it’s listed as one, but all I can say about cutting this one is, go on, go ahead and do it. What you’ll have in the next generation is a bunch of rich, entitled fucktards with degrees, and ten million poor, brilliant people with no way to contribute to the economy or the future of America.
Come on, get real. These aren’t grants we’re talking about. It’s not free money, but rather money afforded to those with promise who wish to better themselves, and thereby, better America. Go on, cut these down. What you’ll get is a generation that was less innovative than the last, and far less innovative than the one before that.
America was built on innovation. Without student loans, what will early-twenty-somethings betrothe themselves to? At least give them this slavery. It’s for the betterment of America.
This is a totally unfair and unbalanced analysis. You didn’t even mention the entitlements (or benefits) that our government provides to the rich, much less defend those benefits. These include capital gains, inheritance, corporate tax rates and many more. Do you only care about the poor? They are already the most numerous. What more do you want? Where is the justice, I say?