According to The Washington Post , Vice President Al Gore proposed individual savings and investment accounts yesterday to counter an initiative by Republican foe George W. Bush that would let workers invest some of their Social Security payroll taxes in stocks and bonds. First, because they are added to Social Security rather than using payroll tax funds, they do not raise Social Security's return to workers, nor do they do anything to save the system for the future. The Republicans said they had nearly finished drafting a bill under which the government would offer subsidies to private insurers to cover drug costs for people on Medicare. But, they said, in places where no private insurers enter the market, taxpayers should assume the financial risk and the responsibility for providing such coverage.
Private insurers can do a great job.
If the federal government were to pay for retirement drug coverage, some employers and the 13 states already providing drug coverage would have an incentive to drop it. No Sanction Is a Good Sanction Lawmakers in the house might vote as early as tomorrow on a proposal to remove limits on sales of food and medicine to Cuba, according to Reuters. The bill would exempt food and medicine from unilateral U.S. embargoes. It is Cuba and a lot of Middle East nations and there are going to be a lot of people who are going to be motivated to protect that sanctions language. Sanctions damage domestic interests at least as much as the target country and have little chance of inducing policy changes.