Cato Daily Dispatch for December 9, 2004
Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via email
Subscribe to the Daily Dispatch via PDA (AvantGo)
(Links to outside sources were active as of the date of this dispatch; however, not all news sources maintain links to current stories indefinitely. Some links also may require registration.)
Bush Won't Raise Taxes to Fix Social SecurityNew York Drug Law Changes Raise Questions, Fears
Snow Stays On to Tackle Social Security, Tax Reform
Bush Won't Raise Taxes to Fix Social Security
"President Bush on Thursday flatly ruled out raising payroll taxes to ensure the solvency of Social Security as he began a push for historic changes in the retirement program," according to the Associated Press.
"Bush renewed his call for legislation that would let workers create private retirement accounts within the government-run program."
Michael Tanner, director of Cato's Project on Social Security Choice, says: "The President's remarks underscore the seriousness of his commitment to make Social Security reform the top domestic issue of his second term. Clearly, the president understands the need for reform. Failing to act will only pass on an intolerable legacy of debt and higher taxes to our children and grandchildren."
Tanner is the author of "The 6.2 Percent Solution: A Plan for Reforming Social Security." His plan would enable individuals to privately invest their half (6.2 percentage points) of their payroll tax through individual accounts. The remaining 6.2 percentage points of payroll taxes will be used to pay transition costs and to fund disability and survivors benefits.
New York Drug Law Changes Raise Questions, Fears
"By finally tackling New York State's three-decades-old drug sentencing laws -- considered among the most severe in the nation -- the State Legislature has raised a lot of hopes and plenty of questions among prisoners, their families, and their lawyers," according to the New York Times.
"It has also raised fears among advocates for prison reform, who contend that the changes enacted to the Rockefeller drug laws on Tuesday are relatively modest, but may nevertheless reduce public pressure for a more comprehensive overhaul in the way New York treats drug offenders."
In "Prison Blues: How America's Foolish Sentencing Policies Endanger Public Safety," Cato associate policy analyst David B. Kopel writes that the percentage of Americans in prison has increased but punishment of violent criminals has not. "The seeming paradox of more prisons and less punishment for violent criminals, which means less public safety, is explained by the war on drugs," Kopel argues. "That war has gravely undermined the ability of America's penal institutions to protect the public. As prisons are filled beyond capacity with nonviolent 'drug criminals' (many of them first offenders), violent repeat offenders are pushed out the prison doors early, or never imprisoned in the first place."
Timothy Lynch, director of Cato's Project on Criminal Justice, is the editor of After Prohibition: An Adult Approach to Drug Policies in the 21st Century, in which he explores alternative approaches to drug policy.
Snow Stays On to Tackle Social Security, Tax Reform
"President Bush on Wednesday asked Treasury Secretary John W. Snow to stay on the job during his second term, ending more than a week of rampant speculation and high-level leaks that suggested the White House was ready to sack him," according to the Los Angeles Times.
"Snow, 65, will continue to serve as the nation's chief financial officer and leader of the president's economic team, making him the point man for selling Bush's ambitious plans to restructure Social Security and revamp the U.S. tax code."
Tax and Social Security reform are two of the key components of President Bush's vision for an ownership society. In "Defining an Ownership Society," Cato executive vice president David Boaz explains the benefits of ownership: "It means that property is better maintained and long-term values are higher, including environmental quality. It means that people have a greater stake in their community and thus become better citizens. It protects people from the arbitrary power of government and gives them more freedom and more confidence as citizens. It produces prosperity because markets can't work without private property. Private retirement accounts and reduced taxes on investment would encourage more ownership for all Americans."
Wyatt DuBois, editor, wdubois@cato.org
/div>