From: greg@gallifrey.ucs.uoknor.edu (Greg Trotter)
Newsgroups: alt.rush-limbaugh,alt.politics.bush,alt.politics.clinton,alt.fan.rush-limbaugh
Subject: Reasonable man may differ II: Entitlement Cap
Summary: Proposal for capping social programs
Date: 17 Oct 92 01:09:00 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: Gallifrey - Home of the Timelords
Originator: news@kittyhawk.ecn.uoknor.edu


OK, netters. Here's a plan I've come up with. Please pick it apart without
flamage. All dollar amounts are grabbed out of the air; they're used to
illustrate the concept. If it's been proposed before (probably has),
please point me to a source so I can review that proposal.

If you see a problem, check the bottom of the message; I'll mention
problems that I see in the plan, and I'd appreciate your comments.

Let's put a cap on entitlements.

I suggest that our country can achieve the greatness it desires by
putting a limit on the amount of entitlements a person can receive
in his life. (I'll use 'his' only because English lacks a non-offensive
neuter personal pronoun, not because I want to offend women or the
men who take up for them.)

For this exercise, I'll define an entitlement as something the Government
gives you that you can't live without, and that is paid for by everyone
else. I'll exclude Social Security because theoretically, you pay into
it before withdrawing from it.

Under this plan, a person gets a certain amount of entitlements (let's
say $100,000) on his 18th birthday. Now, he can use this money in any
of the standard entitlement methods: welfare, free health care, etc.
Or, he can use it for higher education. But when it's gone, it's gone.

I feel that such a system will encourage people to use their entitlements
as a safety net, rather than a hammock. If you *know* your magic fountain
will run dry -- better yet, if you can calculate *when*, you will have
good reason to better yourself.

For the disadvantaged, this will give them the motivation that many need.
By allowing them to spend it on higher education, they'll have a way to
do it. I imagine that $100,000 spent the right way can help almost
everyone on welfare (but see Problems below).

For the middle class, it can mean sure fire money for that college
education. Of course, entitlement money would be paid directly to the
(public or private) school. Any refunds should go back to Uncle Sam.
Remember, this is designed to pay for what you can't.

Another idea I had (that, admittedly, I haven't put a lot of thought into,
so there's a good chance it's bogus -- but we'll see) is allowing people
to take out small business loans through the SBA using their entitlement
as security.

Now, how do we pay for this? I'll need to do more research (I know, I
sound like a [insert your least favorite philosophy here], spend now,
figure out how to pay for it later). But I figure that to grant the
entitlement to everyone in the USA right now, you'll need about $25
trillion (assuming $100K times 250 million folks). See Problems below.
To maintain this, we'd need to pump $1.225 trillion per year (assuming
a constant (sic) addition of 12.25 million folks per year -- that's
a birthrate of 15 per thousand against 250 Million people).

That's a *lot* of money. This is preliminary, so I'm still working on
it. But, we'd be able to eliminate the entitlements out of the budget.
Of course, that doesn't come close.

I believe that it would work by a constitutionally mandated fund that
Congress just can't violate. Here's where other factors come into play:
Uncle Sam can earn "interest" on the money that sits unused. This can
pay for many of the people to be born in the next year. Also, if you die
and haven't used all (or any) of your entitlements, that goes back into
the pot for someone else.

Problems:
What about those who are *truly* chronically unemployable?
How do you grandfather people into the system?
How *do* we fund the darn thing?

Now, I've outlined some mechanical questions. But, to the meat:

Financial. Can we do it?
Philosophical. Should we do it?

						- greg
-- 
Greg Trotter				| "You can't turn the White House
Norman, Oklahoma			|  into the Waffle House."
Internet: greg@gallifrey.ucs.uoknor.edu	|	President George Bush
Fidonet: 1:147/63 Treknet: 87:6012/8009	|	October 15, 1992
Newsgroups: alt.rush-limbaugh