Monday, May 02, 2005
WSJ Editors dance on head of pin!
The editors repeated their assertion that interest payments from the treasury bonds held by the Social Security trust fund are real:
How do we know this? Because the Social Security Trustees tell us that, of the $2.2 Trillion by which the SS trust fund will increase between now and 2014, $1.4 Trillion will be interest payments, leaving only $0.8 Trillion of payroll taxes in excess of benefit payments during that period.
Another item of interest is the editors request that Bush should STOP asserting that only proposals that will solve the Social Security solvency problem once and for all should be up for consideration:
Perhaps the editors didn't notice that the plan Bush endorsed only cuts the 75 year acturary deficit in half. But now that the WSJ editors mention it, didn't Bush on multiple occaisions explicitly say that any proposal that he would consider would have to solve the problems once and for all time?
... what we do know with confidence is that, between now and 2017, the payroll tax will raise at least $2.2 trillion more in taxes than will be paid out in benefits.
How do we know this? Because the Social Security Trustees tell us that, of the $2.2 Trillion by which the SS trust fund will increase between now and 2014, $1.4 Trillion will be interest payments, leaving only $0.8 Trillion of payroll taxes in excess of benefit payments during that period.
Another item of interest is the editors request that Bush should STOP asserting that only proposals that will solve the Social Security solvency problem once and for all should be up for consideration:
We also wish Mr. Bush would stop promising that any reform will somehow be "permanent," or last at least for 75 years.
Perhaps the editors didn't notice that the plan Bush endorsed only cuts the 75 year acturary deficit in half. But now that the WSJ editors mention it, didn't Bush on multiple occaisions explicitly say that any proposal that he would consider would have to solve the problems once and for all time?
