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Politics : Bill Clinton Scandal - SANITY CHECK -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (31439)	2/1/1999 2:16:00 PM
From: DMaA	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

I think the idea of paying down the debt now is that in 15 years there would be head room in the economy to allow borrowing again big time until the Baby Boom bulge is expelled out the demographic snake's anus. One of Clinton's early budgets estimated it would take 80% tax rates to support SS during the height of the demographic problem if taxes alone were used to fund it.

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (31439)	2/1/1999 2:17:00 PM
From: Les H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 67261

I'm not for spending the "surplus" at this time. So, my stance is at 100% odds with Clinton, and 75% odds with Republicans. First, the "surplus" is illusory. The funds were being generated to pay future SS liabilities. Even with the "surplus", SS is projected to go cash flow negative in 2012-2013. Hence, taxes or benefits will have to be modified by then to defer the date of reckoning once more (as the program continues to grow out of control). Using SS funds to fund Medicare which is also on the verge of cash flow negative is a stupid idea. Clinton also proposes expanding Medicare to cover younger beneficiaries. If anything, SS and Medicare should be reduced in scope till they are manageable. Rather than continuing to screw up the tax code as Clinton has done, they need to clean it up. They need to eliminate all these stupid tax credits which are only PR, such as Clinton's long term care tax credit, education IRA, etc. None of these programs begins to pay for the problems which they claim to address. So, get rid of them since they don't make a difference in people's lives, only their votes. The economic assumptions behind the budget surpluses are too rosy.