In this PowerPoint presentation delivered at a joint Heritage Foundation/Brookings Institution event on federal spending, Heritage Foundation Vice President for Domestic and Economic Policy Stuart Butler makes the case that the federal deficit isn't the bogeyman that many claim it is. What should be worrying-and what will be most damaging to future generations-is the state of federal spending, which is projected to explode in coming years along with entitlement programs.

The solution, therefore, isn't to push for a balanced budget immediately-necessitating tax hikes and, most likely, European-style economic lethargy-but to reign in the most damaging entitlement programs: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. Without reform, these three programs will comprise more than 20 percent of the nation's economy in 2060, driving tax hikes and threatening economic growth far into the future.

View What Is the Real Reason To Worry about the Deficit by Stuart M. Butler, Ph.D. (requires Microsoft PowerPoint)