How much do entitlements cost?
July 24, 2008 | By Nathaniel Ward
How much taxpayer money does the government spend each year on entitlement programs?
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone cost $1.24 trillion (that’s $1,240,000,000,000) every year. And this number is spiraling upwards out of control.
Heritage Foundation experts have put this in perspective. They report that our spending on these three programs is equivalent to the entire Canadian economy—the 13th largest in the world.
They also produced a new “a la chart” graphic, which they sent to newspaper and magazine editors around the country to help get the word out about our runaway spending problem.
Unfortunately, liberals in Congress oppose attempts to curb even the growth of this massive spending.
Heritage budget expert Brian Riedl warns that “the coming entitlement spending tsunami is not going away. Every year of delay raises the eventual cost of reform by trillions of dollars. This is unconscionable. When the bill comes due, taxpayers will demand to know why Congress shirked their duty to confront this issue.”
Margaret Thatcher in Heritage radio ads
As part of our ten-year Leadership for America campaign, The Heritage Foundation is reaching out to new audiences to help advance conservative ideas.
For example, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher recently recorded two radio ads promoting Heritage’s conservative mission. The ads played on talk radio stations across America.
» Listen to her first ad: “Cry for Freedom”
» Listen to her second ad, “Prosperous and Free”
Lady Thatcher is a Patron of The Heritage Foundation. Our Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom is named in her honor.
Judge Bork on Individual Liberty and the Constitution
Thanks to a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the American Spectator is publishing a ten-part series of articles on the components of individual liberty as it evolved in the West and the state of individual liberty in the future – not only in the West but in the rest of the world.
For the fifth article in the series, Judge Robert Bork discusses individual liberty under the Constitution. The Heritage Foundation is pleased to offer this article, which appeared in the June, 2008 issue of the American Spectator, for free download.
» Read all articles in this series
Other Heritage work of note
- Energy and Environment. Heritage energy expert David Kreutzer testified Wednesday on Capitol Hill before the Joint Economic Committee. The New York Sun offers a brief report: “Mr. Kreutzer offered the panel’s lone conservative voice and pushed for expanding offshore drilling to boost the domestic energy supply and reduce prices.”
- First Principles. Writing in the Washington Times, Heritage President Ed Feulner argues that all branches of government need to brush up on the Constitution. He offers advice for the executive: “Upon inauguration, a president swears to uphold the Constitution. If he thinks a bill is unconstitutional, he is duty bound to veto it, not kick it down the road for the courts to rule on. And as it turned out, the courts allowed the questionable provisions to stand, so now they'll be harder than ever to fix.”
- Energy and Environment. Heritage economist J.D. Foster debunks claims by special interests and the left that today’s high energy prices result entirely from speculation. “Speculators may be easy targets—they may even deserve a bit of the blame for high energy prices—but speculators perform a vital role in financial markets and, unlike congressional actions, any harm speculators do will prove both fleeting and self-correcting.” The real cause? Lack of adequate supplies of energy—which can be ameliorated by allowing new supplies to come to the market.
- Education and Entitlements. By passing a massive new higher education bill, Congress would undo even the modest successes conservatives have had in curbing the size of government, Heritage budget expert Brian Riedl reports. “The House of Representatives voted 354 to 58 on February 7 to add $169 billion in new higher-education spending and create at least 50 new federal programs. In other words, one step forward, 10 steps back.”
In other news
- The House of Representatives has passed legislation that would expand the role of government in the economy and reward those who made risky investments in real estate and subprime mortgages—all at taxpayer expense. The Senate is expected to pass the bill, and President Bush has said he will sign it. An Associated Press headline, though, says the bill may not be the panacaea it’s supporters claim: “Housing bill won’t solve market’s problems.”
- The cost of low-wage labor jumped 12 percent today when the government’s minimum-wage hike took effect. Employers must now pay $6.55 per hour instead of $5.85 per hour. This change will not benefit those in the market for such jobs, since it now costs employers more to hire workers.
- Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) spoke to tens of thousands in Berlin in a speech that touched on the war on terror and transatlantic relations.
- South Texas has begun cleaning up after Hurricane Dolly hit the region Wednesday.
- “Seven Western states are joining four Canadian provinces to propose a plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions through use of a ‘cap and trade’ system,” the AP reports. In a time of economic sluggishness, imposing a plan premised on limiting economic activity may not improve matters.
Coming up at Heritage
To attend these or any other events at Heritage please RSVP at Heritage’s website. Or you can view these events live online. All times are Eastern.
- On Monday, July 28, 2008 at 12:00 noon, author Keith Payne examines how Cold War theories of deterrence apply to current threats and conditions.
- On Tuesday, July 29 at 3:00 p.m., British MP Liam Fox joins a panel of experts to discuss what a potential Conservative administration might do for Britain.
Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
