KEY FACTS FOUND BURIED UNDER 13 PARAGRAPHS OF RUBBLE [The following starts with the 14th paragraph of a story in the NY Times, illustrating well how political propaganda - in this case the supposed sanctity of the Social Security "lock box" - trumps reality these days] In economic terms, it makes little or no difference whether the government spends a few billion dollars of the Social Security surplus in any given year. The surplus in the program is expected to total about $162 billion this year. For decades, the government routinely spent the entire Social Security surplus to cover shortfalls on other programs, and a decision to resume using the surplus for that purpose people search by social security number find peoples email would pose no threat to current recipients of Social Security checks. But the political implications are vast, since both Republicans and Democrats have described the Social Security surplus as a symbolic bulwark against fiscal irresponsibility in Washington and as a vehicle to pay off the national debt. Last year's Republican platform could not have been much more blunt. "The Social Security surplus is off limits, off budget and will not be touched," it said. Democratic and Republican Party leaders are accusing each other of hypocrisy on the issue, which is threatening to dominate several Congressional races next year, especially in House districts where Social Security recipients dominate the voting rolls. AT LEAST THE find peoples email find peoples email TIMES eventually gave its readers a dose of reality, albeit well hidden. Elsewhere we have been treated to nonsense like ABC's George Stephanopoulos last summer interviewing White House economic adviser Larry Lindsey: "After this mid-session review budget report came this week, both you and President Bush mentioned what seemed to be a new exception to taking money from the Social Security lock box. You said that when there's a recession you can dip into the lock box. What's the economic rational for that?" Here are some more recent examples of lock box lock jaw, compiled by the Media Research Center: NBC Nightly News anchor Stone Phillips demanded: "They promised to protect Social find cell phone numbers find peoples email Security,
