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It is our job to explain your money in simple and straight-forward terms, not to impress you with jargon and investment “speak”. You can never ask too many questions. 

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not a destination

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Blog Posts
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5
May 2011
By Art Dinkin

Is the National Debt the Real Problem?

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend a meeting hosted by First Trust. There I had the opportunity to hear the latest perspective from their Chief Economist, Chief Investment Officer, lead analysts from Equity Strategy Research and Closed-End Funds. The presentations were good, but having been attending their meetings whenever possible I have become acquainted with some of them individually. I think I learn more in our one on one discussions then I do in the formal programs.

The Chief Executive Officer, Jim Bowen, also made a fantastic presentation. He brings a unique and unfiltered perspective which I find refreshing. This particular presentation had one point which I have not been able to get out of my mind ever since.

We have all heard about our growing national debt and the forecast of hellfire it is bringing our way. Jim did not condone our national debt, but he did provide an original view of the situation. He started by pointing out that when President Eisenhower left office, defense spending was more than 60% of federal spending. Since then, it has decreased to about 20%. Conversely, payments to individuals used to be about 20% of federal spending and now it is in excess of 60% (and growing). At the same time, net interest has fluctuated but seems to keep within the 5% – 10% range.

So which should be a bigger concern; our rising national debt or our entitlement programs?

Perhaps even more interesting to me was the breakdown of the payments to individuals.

One role of government is to care for those citizens who are unable to care for themselves, but 76% of payments to individuals is through the Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid programs. These two areas alone represent over 45% of federal spending! The shocking realization to me is that we could conceivably fix our budget problems without withholding services from those who truly need them.

So as we enter the 2012 election season (already?!), if you are concerned about the federal budget, ask yourself which programs could have the biggest impact on our future economic stability. (Hint: It's not our interest payments).

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