Entitlement reform is absolutely necessary to ensure that future generations do not need current levels of social support.
When entitlement programs were first enacted in the 1960's the goal of the program was to "cure" and "prevent poverty" (The War on Poverty After 50 Years, heritage.org), however, the policies that we have put in place have waivered and we have failed to address this goal. Today, the "United States government is spending $2.34 trillion a year on roughly 80 entitlement programs" (Analytical Perspectives, whitehouse.gov). The "poverty among Americans, ages 18-64, has only fallen marginally since 1966, from 10.5% to 10.1% today" (War on Poverty, Wikipedia.org). It is true that there are other causes for poverty levels not improving, such as stagnated wage growth, however, it is undeniable that the current form of public welfare is not an adequate solution. "Yet spending on entitlement programs is the fastest growing component of the government." (10 Truths About America's Entitlement Programs, uschamber.com) Public entitlements were supposed to help our economy by bringing people out of poverty, which would then allow their purchasing power to increase which could then spur economic growth. Instead these policies are putting a strain on our economy and preventing it from growing, by taking up tax dollars that could be used for other important investments. As a nation we need to have priorities and understand which areas of the budget we should invest in so that we can get the most return out of our investments. However, this is not being done, mandatory spending takes up 62% of the federal budget while discretionary spending is shrinking year by year (Figure 1A). Mandatory spending is squeezing out other important investments needed for the future prosperity of our county. Investments like infrastructure, education, science, and research are all losing out to public entitlement programs.