The Moderate Republican

What Ever Happened to There's no such thing as a Free Lunch?

You know, when Ronald Reagan, busted the budget back in the 80s, he at least had a good reason: ending Communism. He also tried to work with the Dems in stemming the red ink. Bush 41 also did that even though it ultimately cost him his job.

Now, here comes Bush 43. He wants to change Social Security. That's not necessairly a bad idea, but of course there are costs involved that could be prohibitive. So, if Mr. Bush wants his reform, he has two ways of acheiving it: raise taxes or borrow a ton of money.

Guess which one he chose?

The irony here is that to "save" Social Security for future generations, those future generations are going to have to pay for it. Borrowing means that the piper is going to have to pay at some point. We are telling those future generations, who are basically under 40, that they can have a free lunch while not admitting that at some point we will pay dearly.

The GOP leadership has basically lost any claim on being fiscally repsonsible. We would rather push things off to the future and let some other President deal with it. The funny thing is that we can actually reform Social Security and make it fiscally sound without blowing a gaping whole in our deficit. In a recent editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, three alternatives were presented that would not break the bank. Yes, there would be some pain in the form of tax increases, but that's a whole lot better than a $2 trillion hole that would sink us further into debt.

In the end though, I don't think Bush cares. I think he is more interested in peddling a certainly ideology than he is about managing the nations resources (and it's piggy bank) wisely.

Posted by Dennis at December 10, 2004 12:29 AM