SAFE Announces Results of Fiscal Meltdown Survey
September 28, 2006
At Newark Community Day on September 17, Secure America’s Future Economy (SAFE) invited visitors to participate in a two-page survey entitled “Can We Avert a Fiscal Meltdown?” A total of 111 people provided their inputs on this crucial issue.
SAFE’s basic view appeared at the top of the survey form: “Current deficits of $300-400 billion per year are bad enough; when the ‘baby boomers’ start retiring (in only a few years) and push Social Security and Medicare outlays through the roof, the situation will get far, far worse.” Apparently, the participants agree, for 87% of them said projected fiscal shortfalls “must be addressed now” versus being left for later.
Asked to identify the primary solution(s) to the coming financial crisis, 77% of the participants cited reducing current government expenditures. 39% voted for restructuring Social Security & Medicare to reduce future commitments; 24% saw raising taxes as a primary solution.
If taxes were to be raised, participants would favor eliminating the exemptions and credits that have effectively relieved half the U.S. population from paying income taxes. The average score for this option was 3.5 on a scale of 5 (clearly acceptable) to (unacceptable). Appreciable support was indicated for rolling back the Bush income tax cuts (3.0). Increasing federal excise taxes on gasoline (2.4), a payroll tax hike (2.0), or a new national sales or value added tax (1.9) were not favored.
Out of five target for expenditure reductions, the scores were: Congressional “earmarks” for special interest programs (3.5), agricultural support payments and “corporate welfare” (3.1), the failed “war on drugs” (3.0), federal grants to state and local governments (2.7), and eliminating the U.S. Department of Education (2.4). [Comment: SAFE believes all of these ideas should be pursued.]
The most favored option (average score 3.2) for restructuring Social Security was to give younger workers the option of using the payroll taxes they pay for Social Security to fund personal retirement accounts. [Prediction: real Social Security reform is not dead, even though the Bush proposal fizzled in 2005.] Less support was indicated for increasing (a) the “normal” retirement age as prescribed by current law (2.6) or (b) the maximum amount of Social Security benefits (currently 85%) subject to income tax (2.3).
Out of four options for restructuring the healthcare system, there was respectable support for (a) capping punitive damage awards for medical malpractice claims (3.3), (b) prohibiting higher charges for medical products and services to people without medical insurance than to people covered in group plans (3.3), and (c) repealing the prescription drug benefit for Medicare that was enacted in 2004 and went into effect this year (3.1). Restructuring all medical insurance plans by raising deductibles and requiring beneficiaries to pay their medical bills in the first instance would be a tough sell (2.2).
The complete survey results are posted at survey results.