Mitch Daniels: We were right to worry about the nation’s fiscal future

Mitch Daniels, co-chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, recently wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post about the lack of political will to address the long-term trajectory of the national debt or the looming insolvency of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. An excerpt is below:

I conclude, reluctantly and dejectedly, that it’s time to face the unpleasant facts. The past decade demonstrates amply that our political process is not capable of the kind of decisions that are necessary. The temptation to savage anyone proposing safety-net reform (the sine qua non of any serious fiscal rescue, really the only issue that matters) remains electorally irresistible and invariably effective.

From very different directions, either of the past two presidents could have led the nation to a safer place, but neither had any interest in doing so. Instead, both perpetuated the “noble lies” — “You’re just getting your own money back,” “We owe it to ourselves,” etc. — by which the public has been misled through the years.

You can read the entire piece here.

Published works by members or staff of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget do not necessarily reflect the views of all members or staff of the Committee.