Saturday, October 28, 2006

Elephant in the Room

One thing I've found missing in all the midterm election rhetoric is any discussion of fiscal responsibility. After reading this article, it seems almost criminal that we're not discussing the looming explosion. The article paints a non-partisan picture of the effects of the deficit and the demographic explosion of entitlments, on which we are on the precipice.

It seems odd to me that Bush squandered so much of his so called political capital on Social Security reform, when the real problem is health care costs. Other articles I've read have shown that the majority of health care costs are due to end-of-life care, where families will spend oodles just to keep Grandma alive for another month. While I'm sure some sort of reform is due for all entitlements, I strongly support reforming minds to a "culture of death." Maybe we could co-opt Nancy Reagan and advertise a "Just Say Death" campaign. While this won't go over too well with grieving families, I think we're screwed until Americans in general realize that quality of life is better than quantity of life.