Good luck to all the baby boomers

September 30th was the final day of the federal government's fiscal year. On October 29th, the Bush Administration announced we had a smaller surplus than last fiscal year, only $127 billion. I therefore encourage readers of the Tidings to access the Internet at www.publicdebt.treas.gov and examine the official numbers. There you will discover that, as of September 30th, we are about $133 billion deeper in debt than a year ago. Too, looking closer, we can see that the public portion of the debt (treasury bills, notes, and bonds) did decrease by about $66 billion. But, at the same time, the government has raided the "trust funds," the biggest being Social Security overpayments, to the tune of almost $200 billion. File cabinets in West Virginia now hold $1.1 trillion in IOUs, money owed to the so-called "Social Security Trust Fund." Good luck, baby boomers.

Did you also know the fiscal budget proposed by George W. Bush for the next three years increases federal spending in excess of $103 billion? Congressional appropriations proposed through 2010 is over $2 trillion beyond the 1997 agreed-upon caps. Meanwhile our national debt approaches $6 trillion.

Source: TRIM (Tax Reform Immediately) at www.TRIMonline.org and (800) 342-6491, respectively.

James A. Farmer

Ashland