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---- Sure, it may be too early to be speculating about a lot of things, and calculating time in "Bush administration years," the interval between possibly re-taking the House in the 2006 midterms, and the 2008 election could become painfully long,.... in fact, it might never end.
---- Personally, I'd like to see a Clark-Warner ticket (as already noted in another thread) But the composition of the ticket is a matter quite apart from "platform" items,... and the democrats have put forth their 6-point plan, albeit in frustratingly nebulous terms. They need to hit American voters with at least a couple of meaningful specifics. Here goes,....
---- For all the talk about "saving" Social Security, not one helpful stopgap measure has thusfar been proposed, let alone implemented. Mention the problem of "appropriating" current Social Security surpluses for the budget, and republicans are quick to jump up and point out that LBJ put SS in the general fund. Clinton had the opportunity to return the "trust" fund to separate budget status when he finally achieved his budget successes in '98, '99, etc, but he failed to do so,... a critical mistake. Gore seemed a likely successor, and he spoke often of the "lockbox," but we know what happened to Gore. And Bush has wildly exacerbated the problem, while preaching a disingenuous "reform" that would be primarily aimed at re-capitalizing Wall Street.
---- Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to bite the Social Security bullet, and tell America something it will appreciate hearing. Tell them that the pattern of government "borrowing" from their supplemental retirement fund is going to stop,.. period. Annual surpluses are running around $150 billion these days, after benefits are paid out,... so take a vow that this surplus amount will left in the fund at the end of your first year in office. Then see that it happens.
---- Of course, this will open a $150 billion hole in the already-deficit regular budget, but that must be dealt with, as well. But by 2008, $150 billion will represent about 5% of the overall budget, and that shouldn't be too terribly hard to cover. Hell, we spend more than that on corporate welfare. A nice symbolic gesture would be to cut by 10% all federal pensions paying over $60,000 annually; ordinary citizens will like that. Remove the "off-shoring" tax-escape for companies doing business here, but operating out of the damned Cayman Islands. And initiate some serious fines, fees or surtaxes on whichever US firms are exporting our jobs to India, etc. I'm sure some combination of measures like these would not only raise the necessary funds, but would be so popular on Main Street that republicans could not afford to vote against them.
---- But the point is,...... stop talking about Social Security and do something,... at least as much as to admit what has been wrong with the way the system has been financially exploited, and stop doing it. People will appreciate it,... people who happen to have the best voting records in the population, by the way, ... and they will breathe easier while further reforms are being contemplated. You can't go wrong with this one.
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