Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.issues From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: issues Mon, Apr 6 1992 Date: Mon, 6 Apr 92 05:43:33 EDT Message-ID: 04-06 0000 DECISIONLINE: Issues & Debate USA TODAY Update April 6, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network Here are some of the issues and topics being debated across the nation Monday morning in USA TODAY: Boomers; Taxes; Entitlement. TODAY'S DEBATE - Baby Boomers and entitlement: USA TODAY'S OPINION: The 80 million baby boomers - a third of the population - always have bulged and strained the national fabric. This largest of generations has redefined each institution through which it has moved, from first grade to Congress. Next, boomers face retirement. ... Now, the government sends (its people) a $1 trillion river of entitlements each year - popular benefits such as Social Security and Medicare, which grow without review. ... President Bush's latest budget plan would spend $2 of every $3 on such entitlements. With boomers entering those decades in which they can draw entitlements ... drain will grow intolerable. ... Already, 49% of the federal budget is eaten by entitlement payments; that will swell to 60% by 1997. ... Now, entitlement spending is almost totally unlinked to any overarching national intent. With our largest generation getting ready to claim its share, that's a luxury we no longer can afford. OTHER VIEW: MARTHA A. MCSTEEN, president of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare: Any plan for an arbitrary, across-the-board cap on entitlement programs by Congress ... is an illusory road to travel to get our budget deficit under control. On the surface, an entitlement cap might sound reasonable. But a closer look exposes the idea as nothing more than an attempt to balance the budget on the backs of those who can least afford it - America's poor and senior citizens. Many of the entitlements under attack, programs such as unemployment compensation and the Federal Employees Retirement System, are solidly financed through dedicated revenues and have large reserves. ... An across-the-board capping of entitlements without serious health-care reform blames and penalizes the victims of our health-care crisis. ... All Americans should demand that our elected leaders focus on meaningful deficit-reduction efforts and fundamental health-care reform to get our budget crisis under control. VOICES ACROSS THE NATION ON FILING TAXES: PHOENIX, Ariz., Michelene Sakta, 27, secretary: Usually I don't owe money, so I file right on time. This year I owe state tax, so I just finished on Friday. I have an accountant do my taxes because I don't want to mess with them. I don't even want to tackle the easy form, let alone the long ones. CARLISLE, Pa., Dennis Pechart, 35, teacher: I always file early because I always anticipate a refund. I feel the forms could be simplified. They seem to be a bit challenging, especially when you get into investments. If they don't simplify them soon, I'll have to pay someone to do them. MEMPHIS, Tenn., Vivian Bonner, 70, homemaker:model: We've filed our income tax. We use an accountant and he takes care of that for us. My husband's retired, so it's really no hassle for him to get all the papers together. We're not unhappy about paying our taxes. In fact, we're glad to make money and have to pay taxes. CHARITON, Iowa, Martin J. Buck, 40, funeral director: I usually wait until the very last minute. I usually have to pay some. That seems to work out the best. I believe if the forms were a little bit simplified, people wouldn't put things off until the last moment. LITHONIA, Ga., Richard L. Morgan, 41, pharmacist: Since I know I have to pay, I definitely wait until the last minute to file my return. Most people may look at a refund as a reward, but it's our money in the first place that we're getting back. I feel that I can spend the money as well as the government can. TOPIC - SOCIAL SECURITY: Gwendolyn S. King is commissioner of Social Security. In that capacity, she administers the USA's Social Security programs - Old Age Survivors' Insurance, Disability Insurance and the Supplemental Security Income program. King was interviewed about the health of the system by USA TODAY's Brian Gallagher. WILL YOUNG WORKERS GET THEIR SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS? The latest trustees report says the fund will be able to pay benefits for the next four decades. WITHOUT NEW TAXES? Without any increase in the Social Security tax. I think baby boomers can count on this program just the way their parents and grandparents did. THE USA IS STRAPPED. CAN'T CONGRESS CHANGE THE RULES ANY TIME? Yes, but Congress is fully aware, as are we in the administration, that you don't make changes willy-nilly to the Social Security program. Some 44 million people rely onit; 100-plus million people are paying into it. You just don't make changes on a whim. Issues & Debate Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM