This was the basic story in the national dailies yesterday as summarized by this graf from the Washington Post: "The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) concludes that in the wake of the president's tax cut and the slowing economy, the government will tap about $9 billion of the Social Security surplus in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30."
Those numbers were seized upon by Democrats and their allies among The Brethren of the National Press Corps to prove that our financial world is about to crash down upon us like the planet Krypton on Jor-El, that Social Security checks will bounce like a Superball on a concrete driveway and, that this is all the result of the Bush tax cut.
We, here at Mullings Central, would like to reiterate the Mullings Challenge: If the Democrats truly believe this situation is as a result of the tax cut, then they should introduce legislation raising taxes.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Tom Daschle can get a tax increase to the floor almost instantaneously. If the tax cut is at the root of all this, fix it big boy.
Let's see some DNC ads with Chairman Terry McAuliffe making the case for a tax increase - a DEMOCRATIC tax increase.
Make our day. Raise our taxes.
Let's try to put a human face on these numbers. Let's try to put YOUR face on these numbers.
The surplus in the Social Security system this year will be about $162 Billion. $162 Billion. Ok, ok, that's not your face, but bear with me.
The Congressional Budget Office - which has the more negative projections - thinks we may have to use about $9 Billion of that to support current spending. $9 Billion.
That's about 5.5 percent of the Social Security surplus.
The total amount of Federal Spending for FY '01 will be about One TRILLION, 855 Billion dollars, according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
That $9 Billion reflects less than one HALF of one percent of total spending.
Ok. Now that your eyes have glazed over, let's put these numbers into terms that normally aspirated human beings can understand.
The Secret Decoder Ring explains Jor-El and Superballs, has a eerie "separated at birth" and a pic of Condit's
daughter.
Let's say the total spending of your family this year will be $60,000, including your tax rebate.
Let's say you had a really, really good year last year and decided to become more fiscally responsible for the first time ever, and NOT use your credit cards for day-to-day expenses and, in fact, pay down your credit cards at every opportunity.
Let's say that you have budgeted pretty carefully but, with the economy flattening out like a two-lane road in central Iowa, you didn't get the bonus you expected. And what with the spike in gasoline prices this past spring, having to pay an extra $3.50 per day at hotels to help them pay THEIR energy bills, and maybe a root canal you forgot to budget for, you have missed your spending targets by zero-point-five percent.
Here you are, staring down the barrel of a deficit in your family budget of � $300.
You have a family meeting and your spouse tells you that this is the worst time to have a budget deficit because the kids need new clothes for school.
Well, you say, we DO have the credit cards.
What about, your spouse asks, the promise we made about not using our credit cards?
What's the credit limit on the credit cards, you ask?
Taken all together, about $5,500, is the answer.
So, you say, here's what we're faced with:
- We earned $60,000 this year
- We will spend $60,300 this year.
- We have $5,500 available on our
credit cards.
- We can (a) not buy any clothes for the
kids, or we can;
- We (b) Go to the store, buy the clothes,
put it on our credit card and reduce our
available credit from $5,500 to $5,200.
- And, you point out, when business picks
up next year the standard bonus structure
will allow you to pay off that $300 charge
to the credit cards and resume your pay-
down strategy.
You're not thrilled, but it's not enough to make you start sneaking up to the Safeway to check out how many grocery carts you're going to need to carry your stuff to your new living space under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Unless your spouse has been spoiling for a family fight (or a divorce) this sounds like a reasonable solution to a temporary and minor problem.
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