entitlement programs News

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The Deficit Dog That Didn't Bark: Raising the Retirement Age

"You're going to have to raise the retirement age for Social Security," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie proclaimed in a recent speech to the American Enterprise Institute. "Oh, I just said it and I still am standing here. I did not vaporize into the carpet and I said it." When the report of President Barack Obama's deficit...

Opinion: Empty Words from Both Sides on the Debt

Last month the Congressional Budget Office reported that Social Security had begun running permanent budget deficits. Medicare is facing future budget shortfalls larger than the entire budgets of most countries. In response to this looming crisis, President Barack Obama's 2012 budget proposes to ... talk about it. This...

10 Political 'Nonstarters' From Federal Debt Panel

WASHINGTON (Nov. 11) -- The draft report from the chairmen of the bipartisan presidential debt commission to reduce the national deficit through deep spending cuts and tax increases took months to piece together. It took mere minutes for partisans on the left and right to pull it apart. The final report isn't due until...

Opinion: Is the Debt Commission Serious?

(April 27) -- Before President Barack Obama's debt commission officially met for the first time today, he told the members that "everything has to be on the table" when it comes to reducing the nation's gargantuan debt. Presumably, that would include Obama's own budget. After all, his budget plan, released earlier this...

Opinion: A Modest Proposal for Anti-Government Crowd

(April 19) -- Anger with government is the theme on the right these days, with anguished cries by tea partiers, militia members and other government haters of "We're taking our country back." This is quite amusing, as it would be curious to find out: From whom do they think they are recapturing "their" country? And what...

Background on entitlement programs

An entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits based on established rights or by legislation. A "right" is itself an entitlement associated with a moral or social principle, such that an "entitlement" is a provision made in accordance with legal framework of a society.

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