Cato Daily Dispatch for October 11, 2004
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Funding for Social Security Described as ProblematicKerry, Bush Spar over Drug Reimportation
Controversy Surrounds Afghanistan Election Results
Funding for Social Security Described as Problematic
"Social Security will turn 100 years old in 2035, but will the program survive that long and will anyone feel like celebrating by then?," reports the Arizona Republic.
"As retirement looms for 77 million baby boomers, nobody knows for sure. Social Security's trustees, mainly White House officials, describe funding as problematic."
In "The 6.2 Percent Solution: A Plan for Reforming Social Security," Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Project on Social Security Choice, proposes a plan that allows younger workers to invest their portion of the FICA payroll tax (6.2 percent) in individual accounts. The other 6.2 percentage points of payroll taxes, paid by employers, would be used to cover transition costs.
The Cato plan puts individuals, not the government, first. It protects younger workers and future generations. It puts each citizen in charge of his or her retirement. It allows workers to keep more of their own assets. As Tanner writes: "It would be a profound and significant increase in individual liberty."
Kerry, Bush Spar over Drug Reimportation
"Democratic challenger John Kerry Friday accused President Bush of breaking a 2000 campaign pledge to allow imports of cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and said the president was protecting big drug companies' profits," Reuters reports.
"Asked at their town hall-style debate about Canadian drug imports, the Massachusetts senator noted that Bush in 2000 had said that allowing reimportation of U.S.-approved drugs 'makes sense,' but then had blocked import legislation."
In "The Reimportation Blues," published in today's Wall Street Journal, Roger Pilon, vice president for legal affairs, writes: "The ban should be lifted, therefore, not to encourage reimportation, which isn't likely to happen, but simply to allow market practices to surface. Today, with their high-profit American market protected, companies don't have to bargain hard abroad. The ban shields them, allowing them to claim they have to accept foreign price controls. Practically, Americans are subsidizing socialized medical systems abroad."
Controversy Surrounds Afghanistan Election Results
"The quest by opposition candidates to have Afghanistan's first presidential election nullified appeared to fade Sunday, as some candidates moderated their stance in light of a consensus proclaiming the election, while not problem-free, a success because of the high turnout and the low level of violence," the New York Times reports.
"Two of 15 candidates who had said they wanted the election redone because of accusations of irregularities, most notably problems with supposedly indelible ink intended to prevent multiple votes, said they would accept the results of an independent investigation that officials announced Sunday. Negotiations were continuing with others to ensure a similar compromise."
In "Better reconsider Afghani blueprint for Islamic democracy," Senior Fellow Patrick Basham writes: "One cannot simply drop a democratic system into a country like Afghanistan and expect it to take root. It will be decades before Afghanistan develops anything that remotely resembles a truly democratic political system."
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org
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