PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH Message Board

To: MKTBUZZ who started this subject	4/22/2003 6:42:07 PM
From: Baldur Fjvlnisson	of 769617

"Think of the federal government as a gigantic insurance company (with a sideline business in national defense and homeland security), which does its accounting on a cash basis, only counting premiums and payouts as they go in and out the door. An insurance company with cash accounting ... is an accident waiting to happen." So says the Treasury undersecretary Peter Fisher; his point is that because of the future liabilities of Social Security and Medicare, the true budget picture is much worse than the conventional deficit numbers suggest. Of course, Fisher isn't allowed to draw the obvious implication: that his boss' push for big permanent tax cuts is completely crazy. But the conclusion is inescapable. Without the Bush tax cuts, it would have been difficult to cope with the fiscal implications of an aging population. With those tax cuts, the task is simply impossible. The accident — the fiscal train wreck — is already under way.""" Krugman, NY Times.