Posted on 05/08/2006 4:00:34 PM PDT by edpc
An Irresponsible President Deficits? Let the next White House worry.
SHEER COINCIDENCE: Last Monday, the Social Security and Medicare trustees released their annual depressing report. On Tuesday, congressional negotiators handed President Bush a "victory" -- his assessment -- in agreeing to extend his capital gains and dividend tax cuts. Mr. Bush and his fellow tax-cuts-above-all proponents would like you to believe that the two events are unrelated. But taken together they underscore the terrible fiscal predicament that Mr. Bush has chosen to bequeath to his successor.
According to the new estimates, the Social Security trust fund will be depleted in 2040, one year closer than last year's projection, while Medicare's will run out in 2018 -- two years sooner than last year's projection and 12 years earlier than estimated when Mr. Bush took office. These dates may still sound remote, but the problem is more imminent than the customary focus on insolvency suggests. Far earlier than the insolvency date, the programs will be spending more than they take in, in payroll taxes in the case of Social Security, in payroll taxes and premiums in the case of some parts of Medicare. Because of higher-than-anticipated hospital costs, the price of Medicare hospital benefits will exceed tax collections and other dedicated revenue this year -- a situation that will persist and worsen rapidly after 2010. And every year of procrastination makes the eventual solution more painful.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Well stated!
One theory has it that the gov't is letting in all the illegals in order to pay the Social Security costs of our graying "legal" population. Sounds plausible, because there's clearly a "gentleman's agreement" between the elites of both parties, to keep the country's doors open to illegal immigration. Also, don't believe the talk about a "war on terror." If we were seriously engaged in such a war, closing the border would have been the first item on the agenda. Israel is fighting a real war on terror. Building a wall was the first thing they did.
You mean you don't like LBJ's "Great Society" and FDR's "New Deal"? /sarcasm
Seriously, I'd rip 90% of these Federal agencies and departments.
"Democrats and Leftists have no business mentioning Social Security! Bush presented 3 models for Social Security and the Democrats booed and hissed!"
So, on that graph, I don't see Dept of Immigration or ICE on there...what's up with that?
I guess I didn't get the memo...but have already witnessed the "border troll" label
get tossed out there for daring to mention illegal immigration in regard to
Dubya's poor poll numbers.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1628697/posts
For a moment, I thought I was in a university classroom in some parallel universe.
Where the "teachers" defend Dubya instead of unfairly slamming him.
Harry Reid said the system was just fine, last week.
What happened?.....did Harry Reids SS check get lost in the mail at the beginning of the month so he checked and found out GWB was telling the truth and SS really was going broke?
I don't know. The Feds compiled the data and the presentation. My guess is that there are dozens of agencies, etc. that are baked into the higher level ones.
Could it be that these are the same people who continue to lie about how tax cuts drain the treasury, ignoring the fact that lower tax RATES have INCREASED tax revenues?You mean the **people** who published this column today:
Don't Feed the Beast: Bush Should End This Tax Cut MythNot once in the article does the author admit that the tax cuts increased government revenues and neither does he deny it. The argument is built on a specious association between tax cuts and increased spending. That's called apples and oranges, or bad logic. Or cheap-ass (com)Post propoganda.
Congratulations on continuing to make every thread an immigration thread.
Hell, he didn't get any help from Republicans either. Bush was out there all by himself, trying to sell a good program that was ridiculed by the Dems and MSM, and ignored by the GOP. Pathetic.
Everybody knows that SS is a pyramid scam.
Bush started to do something about it last year and then backed off quick because of polls.
Big mistake.
There is no Social Security.
What is wrong with these politicians?
Oh, I get it. Let's end prosperity for the majority of Americans so that we can pay higher taxes for a system that can't work long term (it's the demographics, stupid).
Higher taxes on the backs of the working man and woman, too. And we all know what higher tax rates mean. Lower revenues as the economy contracts. Not to mention capital flows out of the country to a place it is treated more hospitably. Yes, that's the ticket.
"Bush tried to reform social security, and all he got was condemnation from the Rats"
Yeah, but Bush got little or no support from the majority of spineless Pubbies in Congress, either.
I agree completely that this article is nonsense; it is entirely ridiculous to blame the lack of progress on SS and Medicare on Bush. He invested his political capital, and it failed to provide a return.
Good point. I'm sure adding millions of illegals will help not only the SS problem but other government welfare programs as well. The ComPost should be ashamed to fret over this after they did all they could to torpedo efforts to find solutions.
Yes......I think I said that.
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