A detailed look at how the fraction of U.S. government spending that is entitlement (rather than discretionary) has grown – followed by a close look at some of the consequences of this. These two make for depressing, but important reading. Then add to this picture the inevitable demographic changes we're heading for (especially the growing fraction of our population over 65).
My conclusion: nothing but radical economic reform at the federal level can solve this problem. The key two elements of such reform: (1) a simple, minimally-progressive income tax (tiny Estonia provides an excellent example), and (2) the outright elimination of most entitlement programs (yes, I really do mean to include Medicare and Social Security in that – what good are entitlements that can't possibly be funded?).
This amounts to my advocating for increased self-reliance – an almost-forgotten American tradition. As one of the articles point out, this gets very hard to accomplish in a democracy if those on the government teat are in the majority.
That last observation has led to my continuing interest in this. I'm not quite ready for it yet ... but I'm also not ready to rule it out.
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