Medicare and Social Security are not entitlements. Social Security is a pension system that we pay into. There are some exceptions to this for Social Security

Medicare and Social Security are not entitlements. Social Security is a pension system that we pay into. There are some exceptions to this for Social Security but a large majority of the funds payed out are to people who paid into the system. Medicare is an insurance system for the elderly. We all pay into it. Social Security and Medicare happen to be government run and there aren't options to opt out of them but they are not welfare or entitlement programs. The shortcomings for Social Security are easy to fix. I don't know about Medicare and it's actuarial prospects. Crossing the 100% debt/gdp ratio is not a Rubicon. Lots of countries have done this and been none the worse for having done so. The U.S. famously exceeded 100% debt/gdp ratio during WWII. It was able to come down from that. Current debt obligations for the U.S. are in low interest bonds. The borrowing of the money has not crippled the nation. Spending it poorly on stupid wars, a massive surveillance/security apparatus in the form of DOD, CIA, etc. has been a problem. Currently, as a percent of GDP taxes in the U.S. are quite low. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_revenue_to_GDP_ratio https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_reven...