McSweeney’s on the National Debt (No Jokes)
Robert Dittmar, a financial economist at the University of Michigan, begins a new column on McSweeney’s with an analysis of why we—as a country—have debt. The gist: “The main contribution to the deficit is that how much we pay into government social insurance programs is disconnected from how much the government pays back to us.”
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Previously on The Billfold
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Ontario is going through the same thing, albeit on a scale of billions rather than trillions. $250 billion in debt, $15 billion average deficits, and health care spending projected to take up 85% of our budget in the next few years (aging population, etc). eighty five percent!
ugh, Ontario. I can’t even look at you right now.
Too bad that as the medical care debate is framed neither party can discuss what it would really take to reign in costs, which is either A) robust public provision or B) massive cuts in care/coverage.