-Caveat Lector- '
http://www.dfw.com/mld/startelegram/news/columnists/jack_z_smith/2911743.htm Dallas Fort Worth Star-Telegram Posted Fri, Mar. 22, 2002 Lockboxed in Jack Z. Smith Remember the Social Security "lockbox" that President Bush and many members of Congress promised not to raid when they were courting your vote back in 2000? As it turns out, the mythical lockbox wasn't nearly as secure as we had hoped. Both the president and Congress have reverted to looting surplus Social Security payroll tax revenues that were supposed to be devoted to helping ensure the long-term solvency of Social Security and Medicare. This development should alarm you if you're one of the 150 million-plus Americans currently paying into Social Security and hoping someday to receive benefits from it. The White House and Congress should be devoting the lion's share of Social Security surpluses to paying down the national debt. With the debt burden lowered, the nation would have greater financial wherewithal in future years to cope with projected shortfalls in Social Security and Medicare funding that are expected as Baby Boomers retire. But Bush and many members of Congress - Republicans and Democrats alike - are instead breaking campaign promises by returning to spending surplus Social Security revenues on other government programs. When running for president, Bush put forth a ridiculously rosy scenario that many Americans swallowed simply because they wanted to believe it: We could grant huge income tax cuts, increase federal spending for defense and other programs, create a prescription drug program for seniors, keep the federal budget in the black and still avoid spending Social Security surpluses on other programs. Instead, the reality is that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently projected a deficit of $121 billion in the 2003 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, assuming that the tax and spending changes that Bush proposed are adopted. The CBO projects that over the next decade Bush's budget proposals would devour $1.8 trillion in surplus Social Security revenues to pay for other federal programs. That's a stupendous wad of cash, even by Washington standards. To put it in perspective, $1.8 trillion is equal to 85 percent of Bush's entire federal budget of $2.1 trillion for 2003. Now, granted, some needed federal expenditures - such as for anti-terrorism measures - couldn't be foreseen in 2000 when Bush and members of Congress were pledging loyalty to the lockbox. But the primary reasons that they will be relentlessly diverting Social Security surpluses to other federal programs is that they relied on insanely optimistic and unrealistic projections of long-term budget surpluses, approved the $1.35 trillion tax cut that Bush wanted and are now jacking up spending in areas ranging from defense to agriculture. For every billion dollars of Social Security surpluses that Washington politicians spend on another program, the U.S. government will owe a billion to the Social Security program. The debt is in the form of special-issue Treasury bonds held by the Social Security trust fund. In future years, the government will need huge sums of money to redeem these bonds and thereby ensure Social Security has enough money to continue cutting benefit checks. But if it fails to earmark current Social Security surpluses for debt reduction, the government is more likely to have to take drastic measures in future years - such as sharply raising taxes or slashing federal programs - to cover expected funding gaps for Social Security and Medicare. The long-term problem also is being worsened because Bush and Congress are dawdling on making meaningful reforms in the Social Security program to buttress it financially. The current fiscal irresponsibility in Washington could come back to haunt America's younger generations - our children and grandchildren - by the time they become eligible to draw a Social Security check. On another note, House Majority Leader Dick Armey claimed in the March 18 Star-Telegram that I had misrepresented his views on Social Security both in reporting on his initial race for Congress in 1984 and in a recent March 9 column in which I reiterated comments he made at the time. The truth is, I didn't misrepresent anything. On Sept. 6, 1984, Armey told the Star-Telegram Editorial Board: "I think we're going to have to bite the bullet on Social Security and phase it out over a period of time." He called Social Security "a bad retirement program." I included those tape-recorded comments verbatim in a story that appeared in the Star-Telegram the following day. Armey has never denied making those comments. But he claimed I misrepresented his views by concluding in the 1984 article that his statements meant he favored the abolition of Social Security. My dictionary defines "abolish" as "to do away with." If you phase out Social Security over a period of time, as Armey proposed in 1984, you do away with it. Jack Z. Smith is a Star-Telegram editorial writer. (817) 390-7724 [EMAIL PROTECTED] __ <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! 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