Hi Nomen,



I salute your wonderful comment and find myself in full agreement with your point #1.



However, on point #2 I must respectfully take you to task;



"Entitlements (most especially Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security) are projected to grow way beyond our ability to fund current levels of benefits for our future population. Everyone on the left and the right knows this." -- Nomen Penn



And this one;



"The problem of out-of-control entitlements is also widely prevalent in Western Europe." -- Nomen Penn



It is not a case of affordability, it is a case of funding.



Imagine if $2 Trillion dollars hadn't been spent on *two wars that were based on false pretenses* (the U.S. Iraqi Study Group final report said so) and instead were spent on U.S. infrastructure (mega jobs creator) on healthcare, on education, and on urban transit/renewable energy.



We would've seen a far different America by now.



Just think what we would've missed, the 2007/08 financial crisis, the Occupy movement, rising crime and civil disobedience, high unemployment, low aggregate demand and more crumbling infrastructure.



'Nothing is nothing, until you can compare it to something.'



I respectfully suggest that you look at Norway (with possibly the largest social 'entitlement' scheme in the world) AND still has over $1 Trillion dollars in the bank, and the 2nd highest per capita income in the world, and so many other first, second, or third place rankings in everything from the Productivity Index to the Happiness Index and everything in between, that it makes me wonder why every country can't follow this model.



(Yes, Norway has some medium sized offshore oil and gas reserves, but many countries have that, but have squandered the resource and the revenue)



Oh, and free universal healthcare ranked #7 in the world, and free university tuition for everyone and among the lowest crime rates in the world at 1 murder per year on average (in the whole country of 5.3 million people).



Other Nordic countries have low Debt-t0-GDP, free universal healthcare, free university tuition (for anyone on the planet) also high per capita income, high productivity, low barriers for trade and high UN Happiness Index rankings, historically very low unemployment, etc.



And look at Germany with a very high minimum wage, and setting a new global balance of trade record every year since 2011, after having bailed out East Germany/German integration (huge pricetag) which began in 1990,also bailed out some of the EuroZone countries (still bailing) and is the main financier of Greece. Added to that are a very generous social welfare state and free universal healthcare and a tuition-free university education available to anyone on the planet willing to live in Germany and pay their own living expenses.



Please see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Norway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Sweden

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Finland

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Denmark

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Germany



In general terms:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model



And just for fun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Australia



It isn't the 'entitlements' which working people pay into their whole lives (and should reasonably expect to enjoy the benefits thereof) that are the problem.



The problem is on the spending side. Wars that cost over $2 Trillion dollars which were based on falsehood are the problem -- potentially bankrupting parts of the economy, and putting the squeeze on legitimate 'entitlements' paid for by citizens.



President Dwight D. Eisenhower said;



"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron." -- Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of US 1953-1961



(From a speech before the American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 16, 1953)



Also:



From:

"The Last Republican" - Dwight D. Eisenhower

~Ike was the last Republican the balance a budget

~He refused to lower taxes

~He paid down the national debt

~He spent money to create jobs

~The Interstate Highway system he built returned $6 in economic activity for each $1 dollar it cost

~He did not lower taxes, cut spending, kill jobs and increase the debt.

~He was the last fiscal conservative.



Best regards to you, Nomen. JBS