The Goat Pen

Jungle Rat wrote:If gas prices jump hours after the price of oil jumps, why don't gas prices fall hours after oil prices fall? Such a fucking scam.

jw matthews wrote:What is more interesting, and I've never been able to understand, is the whole "off-budget," "on-budget" treatment of SS by government accounting and budgetary practice. Its been off and on over the years and is very confusing.

For one thing, it is very difficult to determine how and to what extent SS is a part of the deficit (let alone whether it should be) and its impact on the governmental balance sheet. If you've gott a good reasoned source or explanation for that one I'd like to read it.

By law, the Social Security program is treated as an "off-budget" entity, and its financial figures are displayed separately from the rest of the budget. The separate display, along with the use of trust funds as an accounting device, is a means of distinguishing the program's finances from those of other government activities. However, the distinction can be confusing when it leads people to think of Social Security as an independent financial entity. Social Security is a federal program, and as such, all of its taxes are received by and its outlays dispensed from the U.S. Treasury.

Focusing on an accumulating balance in the Social Security trust funds can also be misleading. The only economically significant way that the government has a surplus is if there is a unified budget surplus--when total receipts are greater than total outlays. Although separate taxes are collected for Social Security, the money left over after benefits are paid is used to fund other government programs or to pay down the debt held by the public.

Regardless of how any federal program is financed and accounted for--and whether it is presented as on- or off-budget--a full understanding of the government's looming fiscal strains and the potential economic impact of its fiscal condition requires that all government functions be considered together. It is the federal government's total claims on the nation's resources that affect the economy—not the individual components that make up those claims.

eCat wrote:I would do the same thing



ATM, any way we can turn on HTML ?