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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> ALL reforms that can bring the system into balance will REQUIRE some 
> combination of revenue increases, borrowing, or benefit reductions. And 
> probably all three. There are no other options. And the tab grows every 
> year, so the sooner we act, the less painful the reform. ANyone telling you 
> anything different is either ignorant or lying.

Don,  that's a very good treatment of the subject.  I might have to steal it. 
 But it will go into a "special" folder that won't be counted as plagiarism.

There is a fourth solution, although it might be looked on as just a form of 
benefit reduction.  That solution is to let inflation run rampant so that we 
are paying the dollar amount of the benefits we promised but do so with much 
cheaper dollars.  COLA one might remonstrate.  There was a recent COLA 
increase 
in benfits which covers less than 1/3 of the actual increase in cost of 
living.  Sort of a Diet COLA.  This has been the favorite way for governments 
to 
beat their debts.  

At any rate, the most significant part of that, says I, is that those figures 
are based on an economy that continues to expand and continues to pay ever 
increasing salaries.  And even at that we're STILL coming up short in the end 
.... and our economic prospects aren't looking all that good.