Survey on Options for Reform

[THOMAS DIXON <TDIXON@CCSI.COM>]

I am dismayed at the double talk that that is pervasive in all 
discussions concerning SS. It needs to be make clear that there are two 
money streams in action. One, income tax and the other, SS tax. Well, 
there is a third, Medicare tax. Lets leave medicare tax out of this for 
now and talk about the other two. 
Government funds all its business through income tax. Yet it can not keep 
its books balanced, so, it borrows by way of T-bonds. It has not been 
able to balance its books for some time, I'm not sure if it was ever able 
to pay its obligations without borrowing.
On the otherhand, SS has been solvent from the beginning and is projected 
to stay solvent for some time to come.
Why confuse the issue? Why say we have a surplus when it just isn't true. 
What about all those T-bonds government has been selling to pay its 
debts? Who in the end will fork up the cash to cover those bonds? 
Surprise, surprise, the tax payers will. The social security trust fund 
is probably the biggest bond holder of them all. What a catch 22! We the 
people, loan our hard earned SS taxes to the fed to pay programs we don't 
need and then turn around and have to use our income tax dollars to pay 
it back. This is a zero-sum proposition.
We must above all differentiate between these two money streams. Never, 
never again mix the two. 
Once we have overcome this obsticle, the solution to SS future 
(??projected??) sortfalls is easy to handle. 
By the way, why shoud we try to redeem those t-bonds we are now holding. 
That is, those bonds the SS trust fund in holding. What is the point? 
Should we tax ourselves to pay ourselves. Why not just write off those 
obligations as bad dept. Start over, and force government to either keep 
its finances in order or borrow from outside sorces other than SS funds.

Thomas Dixon