Academic

MEGAN MCARDLE: BUY NOW, PAY LATER: If we pass this thing, no American politician, left or right,?

By Glenn Reynolds

MEGAN MCARDLE: BUY NOW, PAY LATER:

If we pass this thing, no American politician, left or right, is going to cut any of these programs, or raise the broad-based taxes necessary to pay for them, without any compensating goodies to offer the public . . . until the crisis is almost upon us. I can think of no situation, other than impending crisis, in which such a thing has been done–and usually, as with Social Security, they have done just little enough to kick the problem down the road. The idea that you pass a program of dubious sustainability because you can always make it sustainable later, seems borderline insane. I can’t think of a single major entitlement that has become more sustainable over time. Why is this one supposed to be different?

Because they really, really want it.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on March 19, 2010 (boomark / email).