Here We Go Again

December 17, 1999

Just as the previous budget year -- replete with competing "lock-boxes" that would "save Social Security first" -- ended with the federal government dedicating over $17 billion of surplus payroll taxes to general expenditures, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Dick Armey have written to President Clinton insisting that he propose a budget for next year that neither spends Social Security surpluses nor raise taxes.

But next year will be no different from the last. A lock-box, even one that is not "picked," is not nearly enough to prevent Social Security's insolvency. And it does absolutely nothing to improve the low rates of return minorities receive from Social Security, give workers a property right to their benefits, or an inheritance to pass on to their children. Both the President and the Congress should set their sights a little higher.

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