Copyright 1997-2008,

by Surly

In the ensuing debate over curbing welfare, balancing the budget, eliminating the deficit and reforming taxation we are missing the real causes of our current plight.

Beginning with the New Deal and especially during the 1960s we gave each one of us a social credit card with an unlimited credit balance. We're used to having government entitlements as if they were rights. Now it's time to pay, but we can't afford to. We all want a free lunch.

We allowed Social Security to be available to everyone regardless of income, so that even the rich, who don't need it, still must participate in receiving its benefits. Why should anyone receiving income above the poverty line or having sufficient wealth be eligible for Social Security?

We have allowed subsidies to areas of business, such as farming, to persist past the need that created these entitlements.

The income tax system is full of loopholes for the affluent and none for those who need relief. Current flat tax proposals don't tax all income, leaving interest, capital gains, large inheritances - those incomes the wealthy are more likely to have - free from taxation, so that the rich don't have to pay their fair share. Businesses have been given many kinds of tax breaks.