Charity up in smoke

In the 2012 budget projection 58% of the national budget will go to entitlement programs.  These programs often help the elderly and the needy because they help so many they are viewed as a sacred cow when tax time comes around.  This makes balancing the budget very difficult.  They made a big deal of cutting $36 billion but my plan could cut close to $222 billion or more and is just a new way to stop smoking.  At this point in time 20% of this country smokes and 31% of those under the poverty line. So my idea is to set a date by which to quit after which date if you still smoke you loose eligibility for all government programs.  using the low 20% and predicting this law makes 50% of smokers quit that still gives a 5.8% cut or with the budget for 2012 of $3.818 trillion about $221.444 billion.  It has taken 40 years for the last 50% drop in smoking from 40% to 20% so that is a very fair estimate. I believe this isn't just a way to work towards balancing the budget but also is a way to hopefully help more smokers quit then ever before.  Government programs are a form of charity which should be respected by those who receive them and if they don't respect them and the taxpayers who pay for them enough to give up smoking they must not need them much. With my low estimate at over $200 billion to be disrespected bothers me and should bother you.  Thanks for reading and please share this post and my site.