No, social security was a good example and a good idea.
Does anyone remember the parody of Gore on SNL saying "Lockbox"? Does anyone remember why?
See, GM is in trouble (and claiming its workers cost $75/hr) because it had huge pension obligations, but instead of saving some of its revenue for when the chickens came home to roost, it'll will just bank on the company's revenue growing without bound (like homeowners banked on their property values).
The only problem is when this doesn't happen.
Now, the government, instead of spending its money wisely and saving it for the social security insolvency that hangs over our heads, decided (under Bush II) to issue one-time "tax rebates" to stimulate the economy.
Anytime we actually have money to pay into social security, we use it for some stopgap measure like paying down our trade deficit, tax rebates, etc. If we followed a rational funding policy for Social Security, both in good times and in bad (like when you make steady payments on a mortgage) then we wouldn't be worried about it.
Does anyone remember the parody of Gore on SNL saying "Lockbox"? Does anyone remember why?
See, GM is in trouble (and claiming its workers cost $75/hr) because it had huge pension obligations, but instead of saving some of its revenue for when the chickens came home to roost, it'll will just bank on the company's revenue growing without bound (like homeowners banked on their property values).
The only problem is when this doesn't happen.
Now, the government, instead of spending its money wisely and saving it for the social security insolvency that hangs over our heads, decided (under Bush II) to issue one-time "tax rebates" to stimulate the economy.
Anytime we actually have money to pay into social security, we use it for some stopgap measure like paying down our trade deficit, tax rebates, etc. If we followed a rational funding policy for Social Security, both in good times and in bad (like when you make steady payments on a mortgage) then we wouldn't be worried about it.