Budget Bloodbath a Result of Lawmakers' Refusal to Confront Entitlement Spending | Manhattan Institute

Budget Bloodbath a Result of Lawmakers' Refusal to Confront Entitlement Spending | Manhattan Institute:
"President Trump’s budget proposal and its hysterical reaction are the predictable result of a nation that stubbornly refuses to confront escalating Social Security and Medicare costs.
Advocates of all other budget priorities are left to fight viciously over the rapidly-shrinking scraps.
Since the end of World War II, federal spending has typically remained around 20 percent of GDP. Within that total, Social Security and Medicare costs have leaped from 6 percent of GDP in 2000 to 8 percent today, on their way to a projected 10 percent a decade from now—and 12 percent a decade after that.
This will continue to squeeze all other spending, especially when combined with the resulting interest costs on the national debt.