Entitlements: A Cliff Too Far

The nation's fiscal cliff is little more than a molehill compared to the steep entitlement precipice.  Social Security and Medicare are running worsening deficits.  Despite the mounting crisis, there appears to be little appetite in Washington to deal with the problem.

Social Security and Medicare, the two largest federal expenditures, accounted for 36 percent of federal spending in fiscal 2011, according to the annual report published last year by the programs' boards of trustees.  The taxpayer tab for the two programs was $1.21 trillion.

In its report, the trustees warned that the two programs "cannot sustain projected long-run costs."  Social Security trust fund reserves will be exhausted by 2033 at current growth levels, while the depletion in Medicare funds will be reached earlier in 2024, the report estimates.

By 2021, the report forecasts that Social Security costs alone will amount to $3 trillion.  To illustrate the severity of the problem, the entire federal budget for the last fiscal year was $3.7 trillion. Without changes, the government will be forced to borrow increasing amounts of money to fund benefits.

Despite the dire warnings, President Obama and his Democrat Party disciples have refused to discuss meaningful reform for the programs.  In fact, the president has taken to vilifying Republicans for daring to suggest tampering with seniors' entitlement programs.

Demographics guarantee that the two entitlements will bankrupt the country.  Consider these facts from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and the U.S. Census Bureau:

• The nation's population aged 65 years and older is projected to increase from 12.4 percent of the population in 2000 to 19.6 percent in 2030.  There will be an estimated 71 million people over 65 in 2030, including more than 19.5 million 80 years and older.
• More than 7,500 people are turning 65 every day.  By 2025, that number will crest when a projected 11,700 people will celebrate their 65th birthday every day.    
• The country's birth rates have fallen to the lowest level since 1920, when the government began keeping reliable data.  In 1957, there were 122.7 births per 1,000 population, compared to 63.2 in 2011. 

These statistics have far-reaching implications for public health care and pension systems.  While more people are living longer, fewer people will be available to pay taxes to fund the benefits.  Today there are 2.9 workers for every retiree.  In 2030, the number drops to 2.0 workers for each retiree.

An aging population will dramatically hike medical costs.  The NCHS estimates that the per capita health care costs for a person over 65 is three to five times greater than the cost for younger people.

Ignoring the problem will only hasten the day when drastic cuts will be mandated by law.  For example, legislation precludes payment of benefits beyond the amount that can be financed by Social Security trust funds.

Social Security and Medicare must be reengineered to accommodate the nation's demographic reality. By stubbornly resisting change, Obama and his party are jeopardizing the future of the programs. Republicans must tell the American people the truth and rally the nation to save senior entitlements.  

Regime Rule: How Obama Wields Power

His imperial regime acts unilaterally without regard to the constitution.  He has centralized power, trampled religious freedom and favored foreigners over natives.  He has taken over the health care system.  Critics are branded disloyal and are subject to intimidation.

Yet the leader has a cult-like following and the palace media shields him from scrutiny in his own country while lionizing the autocrat as a near deity.

All those words have been written about Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.  But they could have just as well been used to describe the presidency of Barrack Obama.  Democratic loyalists may protest the characterization, but the facts reveal Obama has governed more like a totalitarian than a president.

Since his election, Obama has abused the power of his office in a breathtaking manner that has no parallel in the history of the country. He has ignored constitutional limitations, created crises to subvert congressional authority, while smearing and bullying opponents of his agenda.

Here is just a partial list of the president's disregard for the constitution and the legislative process:

• The president unveiled 23 proposed executive orders last week on gun control.  During his four years in office, Obama issued 144 orders, according to the National Archives.  Many have been incompatible with the expressed will of Congress, which constitutional scholars view as an abuse of executive orders.  
• The president has usurped the powers of Congress by altering immigration laws.  Obama has circumvented the legislative process to relax immigration policy not once, but on at least two occasions since he became president, the latest on January 2.  The changes impact enforcement of a 1996 immigration law approved by Congress.  
• The president has made so-called "recess" appointments when the Senate was not legally recessed.  It has happened several times during the Obama presidency, most recently with the appointment of the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
• The president has ignored the 1921 federal law that calls for the executive to submit an annual budget. During his first term, the Senate passed a budget on April 29, 2009.  Not a single budget has been approved by the Senate since then. Obama has submitted only one annual budget and it was defeated 99-0 in the Senate and 414-0 in the House. 
• The president has presided over a regulatory regime that has issued more new federal rules than any recent White House occupant.  New regulations have averaged 17,212 per year under Obama, according to Mercatus Center.  That is twice the number of the last Democrat President Bill Clinton. Today's regulatory costs amount to $2.2 trillion annually, estimates the Mercatus Center.   
• The president brushed aside constitutionally guaranteed religious freedom to require religious organizations to violate their own beliefs to supply contraceptives and abortion pills to their employees under Obamacare. He made the decision after vowing he would never force religious organizations to be subjected to the mandate.  

Obama's excuse for aborting the established legislative process is that he "can't wait for Congress" to act.  The truth is that the president is unwilling to compromise with lawmakers.  Instead of working with Congress, he issues executive orders and unleashes a torrent of regulations that carry the impact of law but are never submitted for legislative approval. 

Now Obama is threatening to raise the nation's debt ceiling without Congressional approval, although most constitutional experts agree he lacks the authority.  That hasn't stopped Obama in the past from ruling by executive fiat.   An obeisant media looks the other way at Obama's heavy-handiness.

Obama's overstepping of constitutional bounds can no longer be ignored.  Unless Republicans grow a spine and challenge this perversion of established precedent, the president's power will grow unchecked.  Soon Americans may be unable to recognize the democracy created by the founders.     

Guns And Hypocrisy

Vice President Joe Biden, who has often been guilty of shooting himself in the foot, is the perfect impostor to lead the president's phony gun control commission.  No one has been more hypocritical than Biden on the issue.  That's saying a lot because there's a tsunami of speciousness on banning guns.

Biden admitted on April 26, 2007, at a senate hearing that he kept a gun in his home.  While serving as a senator, Biden voted "no" on May 11, 1999, on a motion that would have required sales at gun shows be completed by federally licensed dealers.  That same year Biden opposed increasing mandatory penalties for the illegal transfer or use of firearms. 

Biden isn't the only politician who has been two-faced on gun control.

California Senator Diane Feinstein, a shrill proponent of banishing guns, confessed at a senate hearing in 1995 that she acquired a gun for her protection after an attempt by terrorists from the New World Liberation Army to bomb her home.  

"I carried a concealed weapon and I made the determination if somebody was going try to take me out, I was going to take them with me," Feinstein growled at the hearing.  Soon after her confession, the duplicitous Californian called for an "outright ban" on gun ownership.

Add President Obama's name to the shameful list of sanctimonious charlatans.

After the horrific carnage at the Sandy Hook elementary school, the president rushed to join in the chorus for gun control legislation. When the president of the National Rifle Association (NRA), raised the specter of armed guards at the nation's schools, Obama demurred.

The president certainly feels differently when his own daughters are involved.  There are no less than 11 armed security guards on duty at all times at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., where his daughters are enrolled.   And the school has advertised for more guards.

Obama also has lied about his stance on guns.  In 1996, then Illinois senate candidate Obama answered "yes" to a survey asking if he supported legislation to "ban the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns."  However, he backtracked in the 2008 presidential campaign, claiming an "aide" filled out the form, even though it was later confirmed the answers on the document were in his handwriting.

No wonder many Americans distrust the president's intentions on the gun issue.  Many believe the Biden commission is nothing more than a convenient way for Obama to appear open minded on the matter, covering up his own extremist views on gun ownership.    

Incidents like the Sandy Hook massacre are reminders of America's culture of violence that has been fed by homicidal video games, movies, rap songs and television shows.  Killing too often is glorified.  Most people ignore the siren call of violence, while a few succumb to its allure.

If banning weapons would end killings, most informed Americans would support gun control measures.  However, they need look no further than our neighbor to the south, Mexico, to understand the futility of regulation.

During the 1960's, Mexico approved strict gun ownership laws, prohibiting private citizens from carrying a firearm or a concealed weapon.  There is only one legal gun store in all of Mexico.  Yet Mexico has three times the murders as the U.S., even though our population is three times larger.

There is no credible evidence that gun ownership promotes violence.  Switzerland has three times as many gun owners as Germany, but significantly fewer murders per 1,000 residents.  New Zealand and Finland have low murder rates, yet their citizens are among the best armed.

Most informed Americans understand that knee-jerk legislation or ill-conceived executive orders cannot shield us from murder and mayhem.   Gun laws may make some feel safer, but regulations will never accomplish the objective of ending murder and mass killings.

Legislation cannot rid the world of evil.  Hypocritical politicians refuse to acknowledge this truth.  Instead, they play on public emotion and fear to appeal to the uninformed while the compliant media swaddles gun control advocates in moral superiority.

Victims of the Sandy Hook shooting deserve better from the nation's leaders.    

Bold Predictions For 2013

Predicting the future is as hazardous as scaling Mount Everest in a pair of loafers and a thong swimsuit.  Any sane person wouldn't attempt it.  However, every year investment gurus, economic thinkers, global academics and others try their hands at forecasting.

Most predictions turn out to be wrong.  A 2005 study at the University of California at Berkley confirmed it.  Researchers surveyed 82,000 predictions over 25 years by 300 leading economists and found their conjectures were no more accurate than random guesses.

But that knowledge won't stop your scribe from shimming into the New Year with some prophecies for 2013.  Be prepared for more speed bumps than green lights in the year ahead.

1.  The U.S. economy will record a second consecutive year of tepid growth.  The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), a key measurement of the economy's output, will inch above two percent, but fail to reach three percent, the level needed to sustain healthy growth.

2.  Obamacare will stumble from the starting gate.  Lawmakers, including Democrats, will vote to delay its implementation as sparring over insurance exchanges in the states exposes the many flaws inherent in the bloated legislation.

3.  The U.S. Supreme Court will fail to deliver a a definitive answer on same sex marriage in its rulings on two cases.  Chief Justice John Roberts will again disappoint conservatives as the court punts the question back to the states and further muddles the issue.

4.  California goes the way of Greece.  The once golden state will plunge deeper into debt as the Democratic controlled legislature refuses to cut spending and trim state employee benefits.  The governor will seek federal loan guarantees to prop up the state's sinking finances.    

5. The European Union will show fissures as France balks at support for tighter budget controls.  The Eurozone economy will contract for a second straight year, plunging more countries into debt spirals that force EU bailouts and feed German anxiety about serving as Europe's paymaster.

6.  Unemployment stubbornly stays above 7 percent, despite the federal bureaucracy's efforts to jigger the measurement.  The number of Americans in the workforce continues to decline as more people become discouraged and stop looking for employment.

7.  A major data breech involving millions of consumers proves to be a tipping point, fueling calls for a national crime force dedicated to tracking down and prosecuting hackers.  The nascent bureaucracy will reside within the FBI.

8.  Vice President Joe Biden's gun control commission issues a wad of tangled recommendations.  Most are doomed to defeat, but Congress approves an assault weapons ban, which will have as little impact as the last one passed in 1994.

9. Despite talk of budget cuts, the federal government ends 2013 by adding another $1 trillion to the nation's debt.  Obama and Democrats renew efforts to raise taxes on high earners and call for a wealth tax on the assets of the top two percent.

10.  The housing industry finally shows signs of a pulse.  Growth in home equity, sparked by rising prices, convinces more homeowners to get back in the market.  Sales tick up to 5 million, a level not seen since 2008.

For doubters, please feel free to print and save this list.   Just remember, the author makes no claims as to the accuracy of these predictions.  But just in case a few prognostications turn out to come true, patent papers have been filed on the crystal ball used to divine the future.