This proposal comes with much attention being placed on the increasing federal debt and federal spending increases that have been a staple of President Obama’s second term, as his focus continues on the funding of the Affordable Care Act and entitlements.

The focus of Mr. Ryan’s spending proposal was most likely not to actually pass, as the Republican plan doesn’t stand a chance of passing the Democratic-led Senate; but, it does send a message about his vision for spending and the federal debt in the upcoming years.

The Congressman’s plan would cut about $5 trillion in spending with these cuts coming mostly from entitlement programs such as Medicaid, as well as lowering the subsidies that are currently provisioned under the Affordable Care Act.

The proposal focuses on the goal of eventually balancing the budget within the decade. Many Democrats have lashed out at the plan and cited its leniency on corporations and the wealthy but plans to cut entitlements for the poor.

The budget proposal comes after Mr. Ryan and Democratic Senator Patty Murray settled on a bipartisan bill to finance the government this year.

Many see Ryan as a potential candidate for the White House in 2016 and this proposal gives a blueprint of his vision for government spending, should the control of the White House shift to the Republican Party.

The Congressional Budget Office reported that under current federal spending trends, the amount of money spent on programs such as Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid will grow faster than the economy itself in the coming decade and could equal as much as 23% of the total Gross Domestic Product, should these patterns continue.

Mr. Ryan has pushed for a proposal that sharply differs from that of Democratic proposals, as their support for entitlements remains a top priority.

The post Ryan Budget Proposal Lays Blueprint for a GOP Balanced Budget appeared first on Follow My Vote.

It seems only fitting to take a deeper look into entitlement spending in the United States and its ever-growing presence as part of the Gross Domestic Product. The upward trends of entitlement spending show continuous and seemingly unstoppable growth in the coming years, causing alarm from spending hawks and many economists that argue of its unsustainability.

The Congressional budget Office has reported that there is only one facet of the U.S. federal spending that continues to take up a larger share of the economy; and, that is healthcare. Currently, entitlement spending and Medicare and Medicaid account for approximately 40-45% of government spending.

Entitlement spending is 100 times higher than it was in 1960, as the umbrella for which people are qualifying for entitlements is expanding, as well as the programs themselves.

Economists predict that with the introduction of “America’s last entitlement” or Obamacare will add an additional $206 billion in spending on top of the already massive entitlement and Medicare/Medicaid spending already in place.

Obamacare is on track to add $1.8 trillion in federal spending by 2023, which has many economists predicting that entitlement spending will soon overwhelm government spending as a whole with its continued growing rates.

Add this to the fact that more Americans are living on entitlements from the government and the trends do not point to a comfortable situation for government spending and debt in the coming years.

If the current trends continue, mandatory spending on programs such as Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid will grow from being only one quarter of the budget in 1963 to over 60% by 2023.

With entitlement spending ramping up and Obamacare growing in size and scope, the spending trends in the U.S. government suggest a future where these facets of our economy take up a larger and larger focus, inhibiting our ability to spend in other much needed areas of the government.

One must also realize that soon these entitlements will become such a large part of American lives that they will not be able to be scaled back and that is a scary thought for economists concerned about the federal debt and government spending, as well as the entire American economy’s ability to function.

The post Up, Up, and Away: Entitlement Trends in the Obamacare Era appeared first on Follow My Vote.