Communications

Houston Chronicle:

We asked him a lot of questions. He repeatedly told us they were good questions. Then he avoided answering them.

For example, [chair of the White House National Economics Council Al] Hubbard says the administration would use surpluses in the Social Security trust funds to finance the transition to private accounts, which by some estimates would cost as much as $2 trillion.

(snip)

Hubbard proposes having the funds lend money for the switch to private accounts.

The move, he said, will help shore up government finances because Congress won't be able to spend the trust fund money.

Wouldn't Congress still be obligated to repay the trust fund for the cost of establishing the private accounts system?

After all, somebody has to pay for it.

That's a good question, Hubbard said when I asked him. His answer: Our president is committed to fiscal discipline.

You see, by taking the trust fund surplus — almost $151 billion in the last fiscal year — away from those wanton spendthrifts in Congress, the administration will enforce that discipline.

That's a great idea. When, I asked, will we see an administration budget that reflects a $151 billion spending cut? Wouldn't that be the first step to funding private accounts?

That's a good question, he said. Congress, you see, loves to spend money, and getting it to stop isn't easy.

And so it went.

So the Bush administration wants to take the money from the trust fund that they claim doesn't exist to pay future benefits and spend it on changing the system over to a private account system that, according to some studies, will only accelerate the loss of revenue in said trust fund, meaning the amount they want to "borrow" against a trust fund they claim doesn't actually exist won't actually exist.

Wow.