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Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute weighs in on entitlement spending.
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Back -- stuff.
Our what our next guest is out with a new book that shows some surprising.
Alarming trends about -- workforce and entitlement spending.
Because -- -- is the author of a nation of takers America's entitlement epidemic.
He's also an eight.
He joins us now.
You know -- in order for us to be a nation of -- someone has to be giving us something to take great.
So that means -- -- -- not necessarily.
A change in.
We'd be takers but the -- and -- givers right.
Absolutely and views you see it on both sides.
We're spending over two trillion dollars a year on entitlements.
And it has to come from somewhere.
It's coming from taxes.
Right now and it's coming from borrowing which is really kind of like a tax on the unborn.
-- but at the same time you know this is a congressional problem or governmental problem I think more than it is.
A human problem it's human nature even offer me some -- I get -- -- get.
But if if you're if there's nothing -- for -- to tape I'm gonna go out and make my own way right so you have a government that's just been willing they hand out.
Tax the unborn as you say.
That's the root of the problem is that.
Currency huge moral problem it's a huge moral and social problem we can kind of afforded for -- Because we're so rich the problem is it's terribly -- to our society and to our way of life.
Your notes say that in 1961 of every three dollars went to entitlements.
Now in 20102.
Of every three dollars goes to entitlements.
But could we get to a point where it's three Drake.
Well we've we've got we've already made the federal government and entitlement machine and I don't think even Franklin Delano Roosevelt would have -- -- that was ever going to happen.
The the trajectory is straight up right now there -- three dollars of entitlements for every single dollar of defense spending.
Entitlements are starting to crowd out defensive concede that in our sequestration.
Debate right.
Now.
I I I -- your point about taxing him born that it makes me sick that we do -- but we've been doing it for forty years between Medicare and Social Security.
How do we unravel that had -- we ever get out of that mess.
Brought I'd I don't have made twelve step programs and of this in my book but I know that the first step is recognizing the problem half.
And this book tries to help people recognize the problems so will start to talk about it honestly I hope then maybe we can get to the fight that leads to -- So that's one of the things that's been pretty controversial in your book is this notion that there's been a flight of the out of work man not woman man how come.
-- if you just look at the numbers on this.
The of the proportion of men in the workforce either working or looking for work.
Has gone down steadily during the period when.
When the entitlement state has been exploding.
And -- arithmetic terms you can account for a fair amount of this flight from work.
In terms of increased disability rolls.
We've had an explosion of disability pay over the past generation.
There are now more people on disability.
Then in the entire manufacturing sector.
Yeah and that then that's -- -- fraud issue and we had spotter for another today.
-- because ever sat at the American Enterprise Institute thank you sir for sharing your insights.
You think.
