How Does It All Add Up?

During the next 12 months, the U.S. must refinance more than $ 1 Trillion (that's $1,000,000,000,000) in short term debt. The interest rate that the taxpayers of the U.S. must pay in order to accomplish this refi could make a significant dent in any supposed savings which the U.S. might achieve from attacking the deficit with the gimicks now proposed. How does the U.S. prevent paying a higher rate for the refi? Simple, the U.S. must keep its AAA rating. Every rating agency has stated that the downgrade in the rating will occur unless the U.S. addresses the current deficit with at least a projected $4 Trillion reduction. Does anyone else see that part of the package for raising the ceiling and getting the U.S. back on track must address the deficit and that means addressing the massive costs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

I, for one, do not believe that addressing the cost of these entitlement programs requires reduction of benefits. The systems that support the delivery of medical care and administrative process for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are so bloated with excess redundant and unnecessary overhead costs that the U.S. would come a long way towards the reductions it needs simply by modernizing the systems, cutting out the wastage from inefficiency and focusing on lower cost delivery of services. Wasn't that what Ross Perot promised to do nearly 20 years ago? Sphere: Related Content