so as to get it through the budget process. And no new SS taxes - so raising the wage cap - or God Forbid - going with no cap - is out - and the rich are protected.
That 2 trillion we will borrow is not really there because in 75 years those year 2080 folks will be happy.
I do not think it will sell - but the media whores may ignore this like they ignore election fraud as the help sell the Sununu/Ryan Bill.
http://thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/FrontPage/120804/socialsecurity.htmlDecember 8, 2004
Social Security numbers game
GOP ponders 30-year scoring rather than 10
By Peter Savodnik
Republicans are pushing to rewrite budget rules in an attempt to remove financial obstacles that threaten the GOP’s effort to reform Social Security.
The potential move to craft budget language that would direct the Congressional Budget Office to score Social Security reform legislation over 30 or more years would likely increase the chances that the bill would pass in the 109th Congress.
Republicans could also write budget provisions that would remove the program entirely from the budget process.
file photo
Reform advocate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said traditional scoring was unsuited for Social Security reform.
Reshaping Social Security, deemed the third rail of politics, has long been viewed as an almost impossible task. But with the deficit projected to be $348 billion and the large transition costs of Social Security reform, the legislative obstacles appear even more daunting next year.
In a recent interview with The Hill, AARP President and CEO Bill Novelli said, “I don’t think Congress could ever pass
because they don’t have the money to pay for it.”
The transition costs of Social Security reform, which is likely to entail personal savings accounts, could total up to $2 trillion in the short run.
Reform advocates — including Reps. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Clay Shaw (R-Fla.), several Senate and House aides and Club for Growth President Stephen Moore — said traditional pricing, or scoring, of spending items was unsuited for Social Security reform.
Instead of assigning a five- or 10-year price tag, as Congress normally does, supporters of reform say Social Security should be viewed in the context of a 30-, 40- or 75-year budget window that takes into account the program’s impact over a lifetime.
“To look at this in short segments is shortsighted,” said Shaw, who is outgoing chairman of the Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security. “You need to look at the overall liquidity of Social Security over a long period of time.”<snip>