COMMENTARY | According to CNN, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, wants a bipartisan effort to reform Social Security and Medicare, the two large entitlement spending programs that will likely run out of money in upcoming decades as America's population ages. Our nation as a whole is increasingly grayer, heavier and our wages are worth less and less. Hutchison writes that if left unchecked, entitlement spending will consume all tax revenue by 2049.
How to fix this conundrum?
Sacrifice sacred cows to free up money
Our military costs too much money and we need to cut defense spending. There is no way around this. We need to bring back the draft, which was abolished in 1973, to allow our nation to field sizable forces of young, single men. This would allow us to nearly eliminate recruiting costs, trim research-and-development costs by focusing on boots-on-the-ground instead of on high-tech, and cut benefits spending by turning the military from a family-supporting career into a fighting force.
Cut funding for public colleges and universities and force those institutions to focus on teaching, not research. Too many professors spend too much time in a publish-or-perish culture that does little to educate twentysomethings to handle employment and prepare to lead tomorrow.
Take increasing life expectancies into account
Few people want to work past 65, but with life expectancy approaching 80 years old across the board, our society can hardly afford to support more people for longer periods of time. Age 65 is a lot different in 2012 than it was in 1935, when Social Security passed with great bipartisan support in the middle of the Great Depression. Raise the retirement age to 68 to encourage workers to maintain their health longer and trim Social Security spending.
Make tough choices on health care spending
The obesity epidemic is costing our society money through Medicare and Medicaid spending. Smokers, alcoholics and those addicted to food are costing billions of dollars per year. We need to get real on how much money we are willing to spend to accommodate and treat conditions that people often bring upon themselves. Focus money on preventative medicine and health maintenance such as subsidized healthy food and gym memberships to avoid paying big bucks at the county hospital when an obese person needs a quadruple bypass.
We know what we need to do. It's just hard to do it.
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