• Phony solutions for Social Security : Jewish settlers in Gaza Strip Phony solutions for Social Security : Jewish settlers in Gaza Strip Journal Star, Peoria, Ill. — Aug. 22, 2005 Republicans proposed “reforming” Social Security by sticking name tags
• Phony solutions for Social Security : Jewish settlers in Gaza Strip
Phony solutions for Social Security : Jewish settlers in Gaza Strip
Journal Star, Peoria, Ill. — Aug. 22, 2005
Republicans proposed “reforming” Social Security by sticking name tags on the surplus. Now Democrats have been equally helpful, with a plan that would “reform” retirement accounts. The Democratic bill proposes to match, dollar-for-dollar, the first $1,000 an individual saves for retirement each year. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said this would provide middle-class families “with the tools they need to achieve retirement security.” She did not say where the federal government would get the tools it would need to provide the match. Probably borrow from Social Security, huh?
The Republican bill would separate out the Social Security surplus – that which is supposed to be saved for the baby boomers’ retirement boom – and stick the names of individual workers on the IOUs. This would take place just before the operating arm of government borrowed the money to spend on defense, education, agriculture, the FBI, Medicaid and other worthy programs.
Neither plan prolongs the solvency of Social Security even by a nickel. It still will need to tap into income tax revenues by 2017 in order to pay benefits. The Democrats’ proposal makes the problem worse to the extent the retirement account match adds new burdens to the already underfunded federal treasury. Because it diverts Social Security revenues into labeled accounts, the Republican plan stands to advance the day when the fund runs short of paying its obligations.
Congress knows that the demands on Social Security are greater than it can pay. It knows that all genuine solutions fit under two umbrellas: higher taxes or smaller benefits. It knows that a combination of both will minimize the wallop of either. It knows that the quicker the nation acts, the less harm will be done.
And it sits back and postures and preens, throwing out phony solutions, as devoid of substance as the Social Security trust fund is of money, apparently believing that all of you out there are too stupid to notice, too selfish to accept any sacrifice or too disengaged to care.
Verdens Gang, Oslo, Norway — Aug. 23, 2005
Maybe it was right, what a Jewish settler shouted as he resisted Israeli soldiers on the Gaza strip: Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is out to get the Nobel Peace Prize.
In any case, the evacuation of Gaza went much better than expected, despite dramatic TV footage. …
Who would have thought Sharon, known as the father of the settlements, would have put in thousands of troops and police to remove nearly 9,000 Jewish settlers from occupied Palestinian areas?
We strongly doubt that the old warrior Ariel Sharon has become a dove of peace. It was more likely the act of the military and political strategist. It was too expensive, politically and economically, to maintain the occupation.
But it was courageous of the prime minister, who has met strong opposition from the right wing of his own party. The evacuation created a historic chance, there can be new movement in the peace process.
But that requires continued pressure from the international community, first and foremost the United States, to ensure that the withdrawal from Gaza is not the first and the last.
