Rand Paul Wants To Cut Foreign Aid To Israel

Rand Paul has stirred up some controversy by suggesting that America eliminates its foreign aid to all nations including Israel. 

Although every "option" is on the table in terms of reducing the debt, we should be talking about the one and only one reason why America is going broke: ENTITLEMENT spending. 

Social programs makes up the largest bulk of America's government spending as indicated in the pie chart below: 

Not only does the "mandatory" (entitlement) spending dwarfs all other money spent on other domestic programs, entitlement spending will keep growing as our  population gets bigger and older every year. The CBO just released a report about the financial future of entitlement spending and shows how the growing elderly population will have an effect on expenses over the next 10 years:

The CBO also provides a chart for the offsetting receipts:

If you don't understand the charts, the basic conclusion is that entitlement spending programs are set to run annual deficits starting this year until it is completely drained in 2037. Not only are entitlement programs are due to run in the red this year, but entitlement programs are set to consume all tax  revenues by 2052 as indicated by the chart below:

Which brings me back to my point about the talk about reducing the deficit. Cutting all other domestic and foreign programs will not resolve our debt problem. You could slash every domestic program and foreign aid to zero and we’d still be in debt. How is that possible? Look below: 

The idea of putting all "options" on the table is meaningless unless our Congress is serious about dealing with entitlement reform. Various presidential administrations and Congressional sessions have been cutting back on programs, including defense programs, in our nation's history and it still didn't make a dent in the reducing the national debt

As a result, entitlement reform should be the ONLY option on the table given all the facts above.  

However, we both know that entitlement programs will be the last program on the chopping block. All three branches of our government, for one reason or another, is enamored with entitlement programs.

There another reason why we'll never get entitlement reform or eliminating entitlement programs completely: Americans love their entitlement programs. Even TEA partiers who want entitlement reform support the idea so long as its other people’s benefits getting cut and not theirs. 

Yes, the government is part of the problem due to its reluctance to deal with the one and only issue that threatens the financial stability of this nation. But the other source of the problem is the American people. 

We’re too dependent on entitlements now.

Unless Americans are willing to let go of their own entitlement checks, Congress will have no motivation to act on reform or elimination of entitlement spending.