Entitlements

Early reports suggest that my predictions about the upcoming election may be incorrect. I am referring to polls that suggest people may no longer be swayed by threats that social security and Medicare will be destroyed if anyone wants to change them. When Paul Ryan came out with his plan to make changes to entitlements, I felt that it guaranteed the re-election of President Obama. I based this on past experiences where anyone tried to change these programs was crucified with ads like the famous push grandma off the cliff. Something has apparently changed in this regard and that would renew my faith in human nature. It remains to be seen if this will actually happen but at least someone started talking about the biggest economic problem of our future, that being, the rising cost of entitlements. It may not come to fruition this election but at least it sets the stage for future elections. If people get the connection between what entitlements are doing to our country and the things that are happening in many European countries along with many states and cities here, perhaps governments will be forced to change. For 50 years the policies of borrow and spend in order to push the debt further down the road has allowed politicians to get re-elected and just maybe this is the beginning of the end of such behavior. We shall see.