Monday, August 13, 2012

Cutting 'welfare' won't fix the deficit

It has become an article of faith among many of you conservatives that "welfare" is driving our federal deficit.  Peter Goodman points out, however:

Between 2001 and 2011, the tax cuts delivered by George W. Bush and continued under Obama have cost roughly $2.8 trillion.  That is about 17 times the roughly $165 billion that has been spent on the primary federal grant that funds welfare.

Indeed, conservatives don't understand how we spend our money or why we have such a big deficit.  My man Paul Krugman calls the U.S. "an insurance company with an army" because "the vast bulk of its spending goes to the big five: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, defense, and interest on the debt."  

Prof. Krugman instructs conservatives: "if you want smaller government, either you're talking about cuts in the big five, or you have no idea what you're talking about."


By Peter S. Goodman
August 13, 2012 | Huffington Post

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