Lots of talk about William Gale’s testimony to the House Committee on the Budget, July 24: “[T]he fiscal problems the country faces are unlike any other the country has faced in their origin and nature. We will likely have to find a new way of dealing with them. The notion that federal spending can be held to its post-WW II norm of about 18 or 19 percent of GDP seems virtually impossible to maintain without severely cutting the major entitlement programs or eliminating the rest of government. In future years, spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone is anticipated to exceed 19 percent of GDP. The unpleasant implication is that a long-term resolution of these issues that does not destroy the role of the federal government in American society will have to include significant increases in tax revenues as a share of the economy.”
