Budget cuts need to include entitlements

The swamp is as swampy as it is thanks to $3.5 trillion in federal spending that washes through Washington every year. Draining it requires that vast amount of money be reduced.

President Trump will speak about spending cuts in his address to Congress on Tuesday night, but if he leaves entitlements alone, the swamp will remain.

The federal government took in $3 trillion last year and borrowed the remaining $500 billion. Borrowing at that pace eventually forces interest rates up and would produce irresistible pressure for drastic cuts.

The more Washington spends, the more businesses will cater to the government instead of to consumer demand. A society's wealth isn't best measured in terms of gross domestic product but in terms of how much people have what they need and want. When the government takes a fifth of the economy, the public has less say.

The biggest winner in the distortion of the economy is Washington itself, which is why four of the five wealthiest counties in America are within commuting distance of the U.S. Capitol. They float on the federal fiscal flood.