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With the federal debt now exceeding $40 trillion dollars, the Beacon’s Counterpoint columnists—liberal Rick Dollinger and conservative Geoff Rosenberger—debate the nation’s fiscal priorities.
GEOFF: Rick, on September 29th the Social Security Administration published a comprehensive summary of all the various things that can be done to return Social Security to actuarial solvency. The summary starts with benefit changes and then moves into revenue generators. Here’s a link.
RICK Forget Social Security reform for a second. What is a good Republican to do with no immigrants and no poor people to assist them in the final days of their lives in an underfunded — Sorry, the GOP gutted Medicaid for long-term care — nursing home? Maybe aging testosterone fed military veterans will be up for the task. Who else?
GEOFF: Over the first 11 months of fiscal 2026, Medicaid spending rose by 7.7% —double the inflation rate — to $655 billion. That annualizes to $715 billion or just under $2,100 for every American. Not every Medicaid recipient, every American. And, that’s just the Federal portion of Medicaid spending. The states kick in between 25% and 50% of the total expenditure. So, let’s assume that, on average, the states cover a third of the spending. That takes the full Medicaid total to $1,071 billion or $3,150/capita —$12,600 for a family of four. How much higher would you like to see it go?
RICK: Geoff: as always, it is a question of perspective. The per capita GDP in America is almost $95,000 a year. Government paid healthcare for the indigent and seniors in nursing home is per capita —slightly more than $3000 —or 3% of that amount. That doesn’t seem like a huge number for funding healthcare for the poor and senior citizens —middle class folks who helped increase the country’s GDP —in nursing homes. Am I missing something? I admit, I usually do.
GEOFF: Yeah, and the federal deficit this year will be around $2.1 trillion — north of $6,100/capita. $24,400 for a family of four. It’s like alcohol or cigarettes — just one more won’t make any difference in the big health picture. But the problem is, all those little things add up to big things. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security spending will total about $3.4 trillion this year for just those three line items alone. That’s a little over $10,000 per capita — $40,000 for a family of four!. Combine the federal deficit and those 3 budgetary line items and we’re up to $6.5 trillion or around 20% of GDP. Doesn’t sound so little anymore.
No one wants to throw granny over a cliff — remember that political ad from a few years back? At least I hope not, given that you and I are both grandparents! But either we get our arms around the spending today or we stick our kids and grandkids with the bill. To me, that’s morally unacceptable.
RICK: A ballroom renovation? An arch? A new plane? A wall? More storm troopers wearing ICE outfits? A redo of the once so-called reflecting pool? The heli-pad? A political ad paid by taxpayers? How can anyone suggest cutting Medicaid in the face of such reckless uncontrolled spending? How can the feckless GOP — fraidy cats all —allow it to occur?
GEOFF: Come on. The current Air Force One is 36 years old. Airplanes do wear out. Granted, the “gifted” AF1 from, where was it? Qatar? was bullshit. But the current AF 1 does need to be replaced.
As for the other stuff you reference — I hate the Arch by the way — it all amounts to cab fare. Literally a few hours of total federal spending. Total federal expenditures this year will be $7.4 trillion. That’s $20.3 billion/day, $848 million/hour. It’s Willy Sutton time. Focus on where the real money is being spent. The other stuff makes for great TV political ad soundbites. But it’s a nothing burger in terms of fiscal policy impact.
RICK: Geoff: The optics are the killer. How can you ask middle class people to tolerate cuts to Social Security or Medicaid when the government is building arches, refurbishing the president’s airplane, hiring more storm troopers and doing political ads for the president’s party? Those costs may be chump change, but in the public eyes they are a manifestation of the income inequality that dominates America’s thinking now.
GEOFF: They aren’t cutting them. They are slowing the rate of growth. If we can’t do that then we’ll never balance the budget. Interest expense is already over $1.0 trillion annually. That can’t go on forever!
RICK: Optics. You can’t ask the middle class to even “slow the rate of growth” of their most treasured programs when the government is spending huge sums on trinkets to appease the president. If we are going to tighten our belts, we need to do it everywhere. To do it now, when the current spending is astray in monuments, airplanes, reflecting pools, heli-pads and a private army, seems like the politics of Ebenezer Scrooge or Marie Antoinette.
GEOFF: That kind of thinking is precisely why we’re in the fiscal mess we’re in — no one wants to make hard decisions. You’re talking politics. I’m talking policy. Yeah, the Trump Monument is absurd. We’re agreed on that. The Helipad isn’t horrible, but yeah, the timing wasn’t great. But two wrongs still don’t make a right. You can’t — well, I guess you can because we keep doing it even though we shouldn’t — say “let’s keep running up the deficit and debt based on the excuse that President Trump is a jerk”. How did “he started it” work out for you when you were a kid?
RICK: We agree: policy should trump politics but until we get the right restraints — across the board (everyone — the rich pay more, the poor take less — sacrifices), we are stuck with that we have. Sad and scary.
Rick Dollinger is a retired Court of Claims judge and a former state senator who lives in Brighton. Geoff Rosenberger is retired co-founder of Clover Capital Management Inc.
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