The Welfare State will Eat Your Soul...

...or at least your checking account.

I discovered a draft post that somehow I failed to publish from last year. Samuelson's article may be from a year ago, but it's just as applicable today as last year.

Economics writer Robert Samuelson has a new article out today (Feb 14, 2007) that puts much of the political battle over government spending into perspective. Neither party is willing to do much to rein in spending although both are eager to castigate each other for it.

It is useful to examine the chart Samuelson includes with his article. It shows the massive growth of welfare spending, especially as it compares to the decline of defense spending as a percentage of the government budget. These percentages are even more astounding when you realize that defense spending grew to a (numerically) record high of $520 billion for 2006 (including spending on Iraq and Afghanistan).

These figures are frightening enough today, but the real scare will hit us in the coming decades as our aging population retires and live longer lives, expecting government support for many more years than did their grandparents, without as many grandchildren to work and pay for it.