Word: surplus
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...That may explain why some Bush advisers last week played down the endorsement's significance. "Can you imagine the Republican front runner not endorsing a tax cut passed by a Republican Congress?" asked one. But Al Gore wasted no time slagging the Texas Governor. "You can't squander the surplus and keep our economy strong," Gore said Friday. "You can't have your cake...
...both Clinton and the Republicans have already promised to devote two-thirds of the projected $3 trillion, ten-year surplus on shoring up Social Security and Medicare. (In the short term, that means national-debt reduction, because the programs are still healthy, and will remain so for 20 years or so until the baby-boom retirement hits us full-force.) The fight is over that last trillion (give or take a few hundred billion). Republicans want to give $792 billion of it back to the people, and Clinton wants to spend a nearly equal portion -- $750 billion, by some calculations...
...either Clinton or some Democratic Congress of the future. Give it all back now, and government will have to stay small. But that disciplined future is a little hard to imagine when right now in the House, Republican super-whip Tom Delay is proudly spending next year?s surplus "and then some" just to make sure there?s no money left for Clinton except for what he promised he wouldn?t touch. "We will negotiate with the President, after he vetoes the bills, on his knees," DeLay said Thursday. And it?s hard to imagine Democrats, a year...
...called "emergency" spending increases, or something unexpected simply comes up, that $3 trillion evaporates pretty fast. So why can?t I say no to both? That?s what Alan Greenspan said to Congress last week, although neither side seemed to want to hear it that way. Set the surplus aside, said Sir Alan, because it?s not even paper money yet, and because Americans might really need a tax cut someday. (Oh ?- and he really hates inflation...
...Nature abhors a vacuum, Washington abhors extra money. It must be disposed of, somehow, and soon enough to get re-elected with. (And in a ten-year block, no less) If we get lucky, the current standoff will harden into a stalemate, and at least this year?s surplus will go where it belongs -? into the bank. If not, then I guess I?ll settle for the compromise favored by a handful of moderates (A tip: for some of the best fiscal policy out there, look for the Republicans who break ranks with their party): $500 billion in tax cuts...