[expat_panama]

if the government continues to collect FICA taxes but immediately cuts off all current Social Security beneficiaries...  ...that is NOT the plan for private accounts.

Aw hell Rem, you never let anyone get away with nothing around here.;-)    Personally, I've never been a member of the "never a borrower or lender be" crowd.  For me, a deficit about six percent gdp and a debt around 60 % shouldn't stand in the way of increasing real wages and wealth.

[Huck]

I've never been a member of the "never a borrower or lender be" crowd.

At least you are honest about your advocacy of deficit spending. Most conservatives are in denial about it. They are not yet comfortable with their new found love of government debt.

[remember]

Aw hell Rem, you never let anyone get away with nothing around here.;-) Personally, I've never been a member of the "never a borrower or lender be" crowd. For me, a deficit about six percent gdp and a debt around 60 % shouldn't stand in the way of increasing real wages and wealth.

I must protest, I'm really very easy-going. For example, I will not make too big a deal about the double-negative in your first sentence! (I suspect that you were setting me up with that since you italicized the second negative.) Anyhow, I'm sure that, like me, you actually like having people to keep you honest.

Regarding the debt, I'm not as worried about the current 60 percent of GDP debt as I am about the fact that we are increasing it at a time that we should be preparing for the Boomer retirement. The following graph shows the projected debt, receipts, and outlays over the next 70 years, as given in the most recent U.S. Budget:

The sources and actual numbers can be seen at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/pro2006.html. As can be seen, the debt is projected to reach 249 percent of GDP in 2075.