reminds me, someone was pointing out http://www.sinceslicedbread.com/
have not had time to look and can't right now, but it sounds like a good idea. Dana On 11/18/05, Gruss Gott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Fiscal Chicken Hawks > November 16, 2005; Page A18 > > To hear the rhetoric from Washington, you'd think Democrats and > Republicans were engaged in some titanic clash over the future of > government. The reality is that they are fighting over entitlement > restraint that is so minor that it reveals this year's entire budget > debate as a political charade. Let's pull back Oz's fiscal curtain. > > By "entitlements," we're referring to Social Security, Medicare and > Medicaid, student loans, food stamps, farm subsidies and other > programs that increase automatically each year without policy changes. > They now cost $1.3 trillion annually, and they'll cost $2.5 trillion > in 10 years -- even before most of the 75 million baby boomers become > permanent members of the burgeoning entitlement class. > > If we were to borrow to pay for all this spending, U.S. Treasury bills > would take on junk bond status in about 20 years, according to David > Wyss, the chief economist at Standard & Poor's. If we raised taxes to > pay for this spending, personal income tax rates would have to double > or the payroll tax would have to rise to 25% from 15%. So facing this > mess, what is Congress doing this year? > > In one corner are the Republicans, who propose to "cut" entitlements > over the next five years by $35 billion (Senate) and $59 billion > (House). GOP "moderates" were so spooked by even this amount that last > week they forced their leadership to pull the budget from a scheduled > vote on the floor. The Republicans could not corral even a single > Democratic vote for a budget they say contains savage cuts. To which > we can only respond: what cuts? > > The reality is that over the next five years the total federal budget > is expected to exceed $13.855 trillion. The Republican faux-Slimfast > plan basically erases the rounding error, or the $0.055 trillion, and > leaves the $13.8 trillion untouched. To put it another way, the GOP > plan reduces the increase in the federal budget by a microscopic 0.25% > over the next five years. The new prescription drug bill by itself > adds some $300 billion to the budget over this same five years, or six > times what this "deficit reduction" bill would save. > [What Cuts?] > > In the other corner are the Democrats who supposedly learned "fiscal > discipline" at the knee of Robert Rubin. Not quite. Their > Congressional leaders, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, have denounced > even these paltry GOP savings as "shameful" and "immoral." They even > brought a dozen Katrina Hurricane victims to Washington, trotted them > out in front of the national media, and proceeded to lambaste > Republicans for shredding the social safety net. > > The hypocrisy here is nearly immeasurable. Earlier this year when > President Bush tried to fix Social Security with private investment > accounts and slower benefit growth for high-income seniors, his > critics said the health care cost "crisis" was more urgent. But now > liberals are assailing even the tiniest slivers in Medicare and > Medicaid as shameful and anti-poor. > > Here's a reality check on the state of the safety net: For the past > five years federal spending on anti-poverty programs has increased by > 41%. Medicaid, which provides health care for the poor, is scheduled > to grow by 7.9% a year, and under the GOP plan it would grow by 7.5% a > year. Either way the program expands by more than double the rate of > inflation through 2011. Meanwhile, we still await those Democrats who > fancy themselves as deficit hawks to propose even one remotely serious > entitlement reform. > > In several areas, the Republicans actually expand entitlements. The > Senate version would raise the cost of farm price supports by > extending the subsidy program for four more years past 2007, at a cost > of $60 billion -- that is, more than the savings in this bill's first > five years. Credit for this little budget maneuver goes to Georgia > Republican Saxby Chambliss. > > Midwestern Senators are also insisting on extending the milk program, > which was supposed to expire this year and mainly benefits well-to-do > dairy farmers. Northeasterners get $1 billion more for low-income > heating assistance -- which means that Uncle Sam will be subsidizing > families to use more energy, while the feds spend billions in other > agencies for energy conservation. There's even $130 million to expand > Medicaid for Alaska, which has become the Republican version of West > Virginia as a state bathed in taxpayer subsidies. And all of this in a > "spending reduction bill." > > There's a shred of good news in this story, which is that Senators Sam > Brownback of Kansas and John McCain of Arizona have joined with five > first-term Republicans to propose some genuine cost cutting. Their > plan would delay the Medicare prescription drug bill, adjust Medicare > benefits to seniors with incomes of more than $80,000 a year (or > $160,000 for a couple), cancel highway pork projects, end dozens of > obsolete spending programs, and cut all domestic discretionary > spending programs by 5%. Their plan saves $120 billion over two years, > which would offset the added costs of Katrina and take at least a five > times larger whack out of the long-term federal debt than the current > GOP leadership plan. > > This is the kind of spending restraint Republicans ought to bring to > the House and Senate floor. At least they'd be criticized for doing > something worthwhile. As it is, they have the worst of both worlds: > They get assailed as mean-spirited skinflints even as they spend like > Democrats. > > Meantime, it's slightly reassuring to know there are at least seven > souls in Congress who don't want to drop a multi-trillion-dollar > legacy of unpaid entitlement bills into the lap of our children. It > would be educational to find out how many more -- in either party -- > would join their ranks. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:183153 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
