Spending caps in general are not great policy, but this one is particularly bad, capping total federal spending to 20.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), the average from 1970 to 2008. Yeah, 40 years ago, when the poputlation was smaller, the population of older Americans was much smaller, and before healthcare costs exploded.
It's unrealistic, and it's just not smart. On the "not smart" part, here's Steve Benen.
The CBPP published a detailed report on the proposed cap a couple of weeks ago, explaining that if it were to become law, policymakers would have no choice but to enforce devastating cuts in Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, as well as every other domestic priority.Ironically, Machin, whose depth of understanding on these issues appears to be less than an inch deep, said he supports the CAP Act but opposes cuts to Social Security and Medicare. In other words, Machin doesn't understand the effects of the very policy he's endorsing.
To a very real extent, the cap would be a straightjacket intended to prevent the government from responding to any challenges, foreign or domestic, for the foreseeable future. The "solution" doesn't even match the problem -- any credible evaluation of the fiscal issue shows the same truths: we lack the necessary resources to deal with a growing elderly population and escalating health care costs. How would a spending cap help this? It wouldn't.
It's an idea so dumb and so bad as to be laughable. So expect every damned ConservaDem who is thinking of running for reelection in the near future sign on.
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