Sowell: A National Treasure

From Kudlow November 10, 2010

Cut Baby Cut!

The Republicans have recently taken over the House of Representatives and gained seats in Congress. One thing I keep hearing Republicans say is that they will cut spending. However, few politicians actually have the courage to do this since their constituents want politicians to “bring home the bacon”. While Republicans the Bush years show otherwise. Here are the largest expenditures:

Social Security $678 billion
Medicare- $453 billion
Interest on debt- $164 billion
National defense- $663.7 billion

Clearly, we need to trim back what we are spending since the spending can’t continue. The interest on the debt is also very low. Increases in the interest rate will only make matters worse. Also why not get rid of some departments of government altogether: Department of Housing and Urban Development ($47.5 billion), Department of Education ($46.7 billion) Department of Agriculture ($26 billion), Department of Labor ($13.3 billion). In 2005, the United States spent more than $477 billion to fight poverty this despite around at the time 12% of the American population was in poverty. Also spending might have a positive effect on the GDP in the long term if people that work for the government actually have to find jobs in the private sector.