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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
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To: ecommerceman who wrote (51301)10/24/2000 9:42:52 AM
From: Knight  Read Replies (1) of 769670
 
I agree that Bush probably can't do everything he's talking about and still balance the budget (in the sort term) and I hope he doesn't try to do it. (I'd rather see an incremental approach that doesn't risk a deficit.) My point, though, is that Bush's social security plan (if looked at independently) allows us to give up some of our future benefits in order to get the opportunity to invest some of our Social Security money on our own. When discussing long-term viability of Social Security, it seems that folks never point out that Bush's plan *reduces* future obligations.

A major issue for me is that I don't trust the government (especially the Democrats) to actually use the surplus money to pay down the debt. Also, if we add government programs, they get "locked in" and are hard to reverse (as I pointed out yesterday). By comparison, a tax cut is relatively easy (politically) to reverse if necessary to prevent a deficit.

As far as paying down the debt is concerned, the interest payments on the debt are already part of the budget. They will *always* be paid (when's the last time the federal government defaulted on a debt payment?). I think it's very unlikely that either Democrats or Republicans will ever use the budget surpluses to accelerate paying down the debt (over an above the required payments). Instead, they will use the extra money for pork or pet programs. I think the best scenario we can hope for is to have a balanced budget, but keep the surplus as small as possible in order to keep government from growing too fast.
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