commentaries

From the article: "This degradation consists of piling up public debt that binds unconsenting future generations to finance current consumption." Social Security and Medicare did NOT add trillions to the public debt, Mr. Will. Until Bush 43 rammed the unfunded Part D through Congress--after a Republican Congress repealed PayGo then refused to permit negotiating drug prices--Medicare was holding its own. Who cut taxes for the job creators who didn't create jobs for Americans? Who benefited disproportionately from said tax cuts? Who's raking in millions in unearned income by stashing away trillions in offshore accounts? Whose income is growing while 23 million unemployed and underemployed Americans search for jobs? Talk about dispiriting numbers....

From the article: "[B]y embracing Paul Ryan, Romney embraced Ryan's emphasis on the entitlement state's moral as well as financial costs." Oh yeh, Mr. Wills, Paul Ryan wrote the book on the moral costs of providing for the common good. Ask the Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Jesuits, Georgetown's faculty, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious and the Nuns on the Bus about Paul Ryan's deficit-increasing, programs-for-the-poor-cutting, high-income/wealth-protecting budget which "decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few" while at the same time increasing the deficit and the national debt. As I recall, the Conference of Catholic Bishops asked Ryan to desist in his claim that his budget is informed by Catholic teachings. The Bishops said his budget is not true to Jesus' word and does not advance economic justice. How can such a budget be defined as moral?

What is even worse, when the people are undecided, they go to the internet to find the answer - and 95% of the internet is filled with sites that look good but lie, slant, and parse information to get you to buy their scam - including ones about entitlements. Other than .gov sites, the rest have no organization that assures accuracy - none. It is worse than snake oil salesmen in the old west...The number of authors who make up their credentials and post them on their site is staggering. I have personally been asked about a dozen people who claim to be experienced experts, educated at my school, and participants in organizations I am on the board - all lies... It is like the lazy think they are entitled to free answers on the internet, and they get what they pay for --manipulation and half truths and lies.

It's not just a coincidence that the social safety net, as meager as it is, has increased as nearly 90% of wealth in the country has shifted to 10% of the population. The 10% (actually the 0.1%) not only don't want to share any of their wealth, they demand changes to increase it--at the expense of everyone else. And there are people like George Will out there that think that's just fine.

In case you haven't noticed Mr Will,those children born between 1946 and 1950 are hitting retirement age and drawing Social Security.Also, many of their parents are still alive and drawing benefits.Before World War II living to be 70 was considered old.Now it is not unusual to live into your eighties and beyond.

The biggest "takers" and whiners have been corporations such as oil companies that have "taken" billions more in tax payer money than recipients of welfare or food stamps. And yet these executives continue to whine about taxes and poor people. These are the immoral, self centered, greedy, UnAmerican takers Will should be castigating.

"The 10% (actually the 0.1%) not only don't want to share any of their wealth"... But yet they already pay 70% of the bill. The inability of our political system to control spending is the greatest threat we face as a nation. No amount of taxation on the 10% will pay for all the programs we would like.

You buy votes by giving people something in return for that vote. At one time it was illegal to do so, but the democrats have used creative ways to do it anyway. Why on earth would a person collecting entitlements vote for anyone other that the party that not only gave it to them. promises more, demonizes those who are still left producing the cash they get and lies that the opposition party is going to take away the safety net?

George Will objectively blames this mess on both Republicans and Democrats, but the Left, based on the comments here, just can't stand to take any part of the blame for the crisis we are facing. There is apparently no chance that we have made any commitments that our economy can't support. Good Grief.

As comments filter in, interesting to see if responses focus on the history, facts/figures and principles of Mr. Will's editorial or if civil discourse prevails over sophomoric rhetoric.