The good news in this message is th

The good news in this message is that from a fiscal perspective, the U.S. can have its cake and eat
it too. By slashing expenditure, the country can improve economic efficiency and get the debt under
control at the same time. Many people claim such cuts will have catastrophic effects on the weakest
elements of society and harm vital government functions. The analysis above suggests this view is
enormously off-target. Most entitlement spending goes to the middle class, and much other expenditure
is hurting economic productivity, not helping. All this expenditure, of course, helps some interest group;
that is why the expenditure persists. But for the economy overall, the net impact is negative.