Senators Urge Bush to Focus on Solvency (SS)

[SillyGoose]

WASHINGTON (AP) - Concerned the Social Security debate has become mired in the conflict over private investment accounts, some Senate Republicans want President Bush to switch his focus to the retirement program's looming insolvency and how to fix it.

``The more you talk about solvency, the harder it is for Democrats to object to everything,'' said Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has been trying to broker compromise legislation between the parties.

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, who heads the Senate committee with jurisdiction over any legislation, said not just the president but rank-and-file Republicans have a responsibility to switch the focus.

``I don't know to what extent I should put this on the back of the president,'' Grassley said Tuesday. ``I think that we have not pushed enough discussion of the solvency, and the reason I say that is, when you get right down to it, that's a no-brainer. You lay every fact about Social Security out about its insolvency and you're not going to have Democrats and Republicans disagree. They might disagree when to do something about it, or how to solve that red ink, but we need to be concentrating on that.''

more at link

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4934083,00.html

[bemildred]

1. "looming" my ass.

Thirty seven years away is not "looming". That's like our leaders
back in 1968 agonizing about us running out of money now, when they
were running huge deficits at the time.

Now that I think about it, there are a number of similarities in the
present situation and that of 1968.

[TahitiNut]

2. FICA might have a deficit forty years from now, but the rest of the budget

... is running 500+ billion dollar deficits right now!

[Brooklyn Michael]

4. Hey! What are those black bars...

...at the right of the On-Budget Federal Deficit graphs????

Oh, wait....those are the Clinton years....sigh.

[wishlist]

3. Carolina TV stations have run ads criticizing Lindsay Graham over SS

Several times in the past month on TV I have seen an ad slamming Repub Sen. Lindsay Graham for mentioning increasing the Fica tax threshold as a means of achieving solvency. I don't know if the group that paid for these ads is a business lobby that doesn't want to pay out higher payroll taxes or a RW group threatening to oust Graham and put in a more RW senator next year if he doesn't toe the line better. (He doesn't march in lock-step with Bush 100%, was outspoken about the rape and murder that went on at Abu Ghraib and has made a few bi-partisan overtures.)

[alcibiades_mystery]

5. But to discuss "solvency," Bush would have to discuss the trust fund

Since the question of whether the trust fund will be depleted is the only solvency issue there is.

And, as we know, Bush doesn't believe in the trust fund, thinking it fictional.

So how could he discuss solvency of a fictional trust fund? ;-)

[Inland]

6. "Solve problems rather than push ideological agenda."

Repeat one million times a day.

[FloridaPat]

7. What about the looming US bankruptcy? Does anyone in DC

know anything about finances except how to spend other peoples money?