Remember when Al Gore said he would put Social Security in a lock box? /nt

K/R for President Gore.

The snickering and denegration. Of course they did that to Al Gore, the person, as well as his proposals. I've always wondered about the dislike ALL the media had for Gore-it never made any sense to me.

was the idea that w was the kind of guy you'd want to have a beer with, while Gore was too smart.

Too smart???? :wtf:

The last thing I want is a president who's as smart as I am. I'm nowhere near bright enough to lead this country.

He wanted to send FICA surpluses to the general fund to redeem bonds rather than purchasing them for the Trust Fund. Our debt would be lower, but SS would have no trust fund if we had done that.

It would be a great idea if Congress were not composed of sociopathic 5 year olds; as it is it would have made it much easier for Congress to gut Social Security.

How the funds were segregated is not the issue, the issue is that using Social Security funds to pay for ongoing obligations was wrong. After Congress has gutted Social Security to say that there would have been an easier way is speculative. The concept of not using Social Security trust funds for everyday expenses is a sound one. As it is now, the Social Security surpluses are given to the general fund anyway.

But, like you said, Congress is composed of sociopathic 5-year olds who have spent all the money regardless of whether it was committed to Social Security or not. I thing Gore's intention was to take the Social Security trust fund away from their greedy fingers. And having a fool-proof method to keep it away from them is the problem, but the concept is still a sound one.

I don't recall the aspect of sending FICA surpluses to the general fund, but for sure that is as dangerous and no plan at all.

So that the projected 500 billion or so a year would go to debt reduction. Assuming the W tax cuts & wars and resulting wage crashes hadn't happened, we'd have about 6 trillion less in debt than we do now -- but future SS outlays would be coming directly out of the general fund. As it is borrowing to pay SS outlays will be debt-neutral; that wouldn't be the case under Gore's plan.

I remember that everytime I hear of how the Social Security trust fund has been squandered away. When the 2000 election was stolen, who would have thought they could have cmopletely wrecked the U.S. economy in only 10 years?

There would be no bonds left in the trust fund (or substantially fewer).

Borrowing would be cheaper, but SS would have to go to Congress for the new borrowing.

:shrug: