Yet entitlement programs tend to be intergenerational swindles that threaten the well-being of future generations with massive financial obligations incurred from benefits received by today’s generation. The Holy Grail of such programs is Social Security, followed closely by Medicare and Medicaid. In 2008, David Walker, then the comptroller general of the United States, reported that the total burden in present value dollars of these and other entitlement programs, including the federal government’s liabilities, commitments, and contingencies, is about $53 trillion. He added, “Imagine we decide to put aside and invest today enough to cover these promises tomorrow. It would take approximately $455,000 per American household—or $175,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States.”1 Medicare and Medicaid spending alone “threaten to consume an untenable share of the budget and economy in the coming decades. The federal government has essentially written a ‘blank check’ for these programs.”2 Walker closed his report with this ominous declaration: “Budgets, deficits, and long-term fiscal and economic outlooks are not just about numbers, they are also about values.
