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Politics : Stockman Scott's Political Debate Porch -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: laura_bush who wrote (36144)	1/25/2004 3:43:25 AM
From: Karen Lawrence	Respond to of 89467

Currently, Social Security WORKS...and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". Bush has blown through Clinton's enormous treasury surplus to cause the worst deficit ever in this nation's history, now he's looking to SS to line his and his buddies pockets...to go to Mars...from the CATO institute: Until Social Security's financial problems are solved(in other words, while there's money in that pot), the general public will not be able to afford current proposals for ambitious scientific projects according to Holman Jenkins in the Wall Street Journal.(yeah, so?) In his article, "Mars: Longevity Insurance for Humankind," (he's another candidate for the next Mars launch) Jenkins notes that the government's ballooning entitlement expenditures leave little room in the budget for other appropriations. He concludes that the only way the country will be able to afford to land a man on Mars will be to reform the main entitlement programs—the largest of which is Social Security. (take some of the Halliburton entitlement away first) "Mr. Bush seems to prefer the approach that brought us the Manhattan Project and Apollo, successful if costly endeavors in government-sponsored ambition. That's all the more reason to suspect that getting to Mars will require a second monumental effort on Mr. Bush's part: reforming Social Security and Medicare. Nobody is going anywhere (take away the huge tax breaks from the job-stealing corporations) until these wealth-sapping obligations of the federal government are converted into true insurance programs—that is, into true wealth holdings for individuals (we saw how "true" wealth holdings in the stock market simply vanished in 2001). "Mr. Bush's sherpas are already plotting private accounts as a way to transform Social Security from a burden on labor productivity into a property right for individuals… "Those who confidently insist Mars is 'unaffordable' under current budget conditions (with 77 million baby boomers beginning their retirement four years from now) should wake up and take some perspective-correcting medication. Nothing is affordable under current budget conditions. (let's get out of Iraq, that's $1 billion per day savings) That's an argument for fixing entitlements rather than for giving up on the progress of humanity." d Index of Previous Daily Comments "It's your money, your choice, your future."