The Democrats have begun sounding like Colonel Kurtz (that would be Walter not Howie) in "Apocalypse Now" as they describe, with horror, the potential need to use $9 billion in Social Security taxes to pay for current programs.
I quote, first, from that noted Conservative thinker on economic matters, former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, Robert Reich from Wednesday's Wall Street Journal:
"No one ever said political rhetoric over economic policy would edify the public, we have reached a new low. The plain fact is that the economy has slowed faster than anyone predicted, so tax receipts are shrinking faster than anyone projected."
One more graf from Reich's op-ed piece:
"The Social Security surplus is an accounting fiction. It didn't even exist until about 18 months ago when some Democratic advisors thought such an invention might be a good bulwark against Candidate Bush's proposed tax cut."
While I'm more-or-less starting the three-day weekend early by quoting others, lets' continue with a partial transcript from a piece by CNN's senior economics reporter, Brooks Jackson:
"Let's take a look at that number that's causing all the political commotion.
"Nine Billion dollars, that's the amount that CBO now estimates will be spent out of this year's Social Security taxes to fund other federal spending - dipping if you will. A lot of zeros, but keep it in perspective.
"This year's federal budget receipts will be two TRILLION dollars according to CBO's latest estimate: Even more zeros.
"To keep those number real, think of that 2 trillion dollars as a summer road trip.
"Let's say we're going to drive from the US Capitol to, oh, Malibu Pier; Baywatch country. That transcontinental drive is 2681.2 miles according to Mapquest.com.
"Now, If you think of that distance as equaling this year's entire federal budget, then the nine billion dollars in question equals - just 11.3 miles. It barely gets us outside of the Washington beltway."
I checked. From the Plaza on the east side of the US Capitol to my house in beautiful downtown Old Town Alexandria, Virginia is just under 8-and-a-half miles. So, by Brooks' reckoning, I (and The James who lives right behind me) live $6,730,088,495 away from the U.S. Capitol. Not including tolls.
Much as I try to avoid giving good advice to the other guys, I offer the following: The Democrats are making a major error in trying to stick a fiscal finger into the eye of the President over this $9 Billion.
First, by talking about whether the Feds will be $1 Billion over (OMB estimate) or $9 Billion under (CBO estimate) the budget makes them sound like � Republicans! For years GOP operatives have tried to get our candidates to stop sounding like CPAs with stomach distress.
The Democrats are much better off when they are being demagogues about jobs, housing, prescription drugs, etc. So long as they want to talk about the Federal budget equivalent of EBITDA, we win.
There is a fascinating discussion of Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness, and T.S. Elliot in the English Lit 325 section and on EBITDA in the Econ 213 section of the Secret Decoder Ring page today. The new semester has started, people. Summer vacation is over. Let's hit those books.
Second, the Dems are setting themselves up for a long-term problem if they begin to worship exclusively on the altar of budget surpluses. They haven't gotten through the past 70-or-so years by doing that. If the economy doesn't turn around by next February, then the Democrats will have boxed themselves into a rhetorical corner and will not be able to demand any economic stimulus initiatives which include deficit spending.
They will be on the horns of a dilemma which, on the one hand, will have them praying for continued bad economic news going into the Mid-Term elections; while on the other hand being unable to offer, as a campaign issue, any prescriptions to fix it.
Many in Washington are calling this the Hooverization of the Democratic Party. Well, not many but some.
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