Entitlement spending refers to the funds used to provide Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other welfare programs (Heritage Foundation, 2010). Over 20% of federal spending is spent on these types of programs and this number is expected to grow if reforms are not made (Heritage Foundation, 2010). According to the Heritage Foundation (2010), the main reason why entitlement spending must be checked on is because of its uncontrollable costs. There are different types of budget formats, but the purpose of all budget formats is to measure and permit accountability for performance or lack of performance in government (Lynch & Smith, 2004). For this reason, budgets include specific objectives, income and expenses for specific departments or …show more content…
First, every government department or program should have a transparent budget to keep the government accountable for their actions (Lynch & Smith, 2004). Next, a chart in one of the articles I read illustrated entitlement spending numbers in percent of total spending from1900 to 2020 (Tax Policy Center, n.d.). The numbers on the chart are increasing each year. Naturally, the numbers will increase because of changes in demographics and growing amount of people in need. Though, one could see how the spending is on autopilot because of high increase in numbers compared to discretionary totals (Tax Policy Center, n.d.). If the numbers continue to grow at the same rate it is now, the different entitlement programs will consumer as much as 15 percent of the nation’s economic output (Chamberlain, 2007). Chamberlain asserts that this is double the current rate. An increase in the current rate presents a danger to the future output of the economy. Moreover, I believe that the government could work towards controlling the uncontrollable (Tax Policy Center, n.d.). Just because entitlement spending is said to be uncontrollable, it does not mean that this programs could not be reformed. For example, controlling and changing the eligibility criteria or the generosity of benefits being given could reform a