Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mephisto who wrote (2015)	1/12/2002 4:34:03 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Deficit Politics Returns " Mr. Bush has access to the same information everyone else does, but instead of making plans for a graceful retreat he seems determined to box himself into a hard-right scenario of continuing to cut taxes, mainly for the WEALTHY, at a time when more and more poor and middle-class Americans are finding themselves out of work." New York Times Editorial January 8, 2002 New York Times Editorial It did not take long after the New Year for President Bush and the Democrats to resume their squabbling over taxes and the federal budget. Unfortunately, their arguments have been covered with so much political padding that the country can hardly be expected to follow them. The tax cuts of 2001 have left the federal government ill equipped to deal with the demands of fighting both terrorism and a domestic recession. Congress scheduled most of the cuts to take place a few years from now. Projections by both the Democratic and Republican Congressional budget staffs suggest that unless at least some of them are derailed, the nation will plunge more deeply into debt or be forced to cut critical programs. Mr. Bush has access to the same information everyone else does, but instead of making plans for a graceful retreat he seems determined to box himself into a hard-right scenario of continuing to cut taxes, mainly for the wealthy, at a time when more and more poor and middle-class Americans are finding themselves out of work. Mr. Bush's behavior has been very much governed by his desire as chief executive to avoid the mistakes that cost his father a second term. The first President Bush, of course, vowed to oppose new taxes in his famous "read my lips" speech. Later, in a genuine act of bipartisanship, he went along with a compromise with Democrats to lower the deficit with a package of spending cuts and tax increases. The younger Mr. Bush has always drawn the wrong lesson from this story. He has told innumerable people that he will not make his father's mistake of provoking the wrath of the right wing. But the elder President Bush's mistake was not in agreeing to tax increases that helped set the stage for the big recovery of the 1990's - it was making the reckless no-new-taxes promise in the first place. The public did not punish him for raising taxes but for breaking his word. On the Democrats' side, the Senate majority leader, Tom Daschle, is on the attack himself, attempting to convince the country that last year's tax cuts were a prime cause of the current recession and budget deficit. Attentive listeners might presume that Mr. Daschle would want to see those destructive cuts repealed, but he has so far remained coyly silent. He is said by aides to be undertaking a slow path to an eventual confrontation with the currently popular president. That may make sense politically. But Mr. Daschle needs to start preparing the public for that moment by speaking out about the tough choices posed by the budget. Neither the president nor Congress has any easy solutions to these problems. Both sides only face some difficult choices. It would be best if they started talking about them candidly. nytimes.com

To: Mephisto who wrote (2015)	3/6/2002 8:43:52 PM
From: Mephisto	Respond to of 15516

Shelters for Executive Pensions Appear to Get Support Under Bush Monday February 25, 12:51 am Eastern Time biz.yahoo.com Despite criticism over how top Enron Corp. officials were able to protect their special executive pensions while other employees saw retirement savings devastated, tax consultants say the Bush administration has softened proposed new rules, which will allow top executives to continue sheltering billions of dollars in pension savings, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. ADVERTISEMENT The guidelines, released in January 2002 , appear to offer a reprieve from an earlier, tougher version promulgated in the final weeks of the Clinton administration. Those rules essentially slammed the door on so-called split- dollar life-insurance policies, in which companies pay the vast majority of the premiums on lucrative insurance policies that benefit top executives or their families. These policies are typically used to shelter executive pension benefits. The Bush administration's willingness to allow executives to continue to shelter their special executive pensions and enjoy other protections not available to regular workers' retirement plans contrasts with the administration's deliberations over policies that would punish top corporate executives for various abuses involving such things as misleading shareholders. The bottom line is that, regardless of what move the administration may make affecting top executives in the wake of the Enron scandal, it is unlikely to take any actions that will curtail their special pension benefits and protections. In a typical split-dollar arrangement the company pays most of the premium -- costs it ultimately would recoup. At the same time the executive could borrow against this policy for a variety of uses, or leave the funds until the executive's death for his or her heirs to recoup, largely tax-free. The new Treasury rules would grandfather in billions of dollars in existing policies and allow the insurance industry to craft new ones that, while somewhat less attractive, achieve much the same ends of those currently in place. This is a departure from the guidelines developed under President Clinton that didn't provide any interim or grace period. Many in the benefits industry see the rules as a way to continue offering such products, which would have been curtailed under the Treasury's previously announced position before President Bush took office. "I think we're in a huge window of opportunity right now," says Michael D. Weinberg, a Denver consultant and a member of the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting's Split-Dollar Task Force. Insurers and pension consultants, including his firm, have begun developing computer models to show what kind of plans are best under the new rules, he says. "I'm very bullish on it." Joseph Hessenthaler, a consultant in Philadelphia with Towers Perrin, adds, " We're sort of back to where we were, but with greater certainty. Frankly, I think you're going to see people using this again." The insurance industry, he adds, has "got to be jumping for joy." The administration says it didn't soften the tax treatment for split-dollar policies. Indeed, says Mark Weinberger, assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax policy, the latest rules are "as tight if not tighter" than those released last year. "What we thought we were doing is tightening the rules," because the final regulations, once implemented, will impose taxes that eventually will make most split-dollar life-insurance policies more costly, said Pam Olson, a deputy to Mr. Weinberger. Copyright (c) 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.