Social Security pending problemBy Maura SatchellSidelines (Middle Tennessee State U.)03/08/2004

(U-WIRE) MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The government has a daunting task ahead of it in addressing two serious fiscal problems: The ballooning federal deficit and the impending retirements of millions of baby boomers.

Bruce Bartlett, a staunch supporter of the Reagan administration tax cuts and trickle-down economic theory, said tax increases are inevitable and likely to come right after the elections, no matter which party is in office. Bartlett is a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative thinktank.

In an article written for Townhall.com, Bartlett predicts some really bad times ahead, based on his reading of the 2005 federal budget drafted by the Bush administration.

"Buried in an appendix volume where reporters are unlikely to notice, it paints a chilling picture of long-term budgetary trends," he said in the article.

That section of the budget projects federal spending will increase from 20 percent of the gross domestic product to 52 percent in 2080, primarily due to interest on the national debt, Bartlett wrote, which expands to 20 percent of the GDP.

But will the current administration wait until after the elections in November to raise taxes?

"Oh, absolutely. They're not going to do anything before the election unless their hand is forced by extraordinary economic events that can't be contemplated at this point," Bartlett told National Public Radio in an interview last Friday.

Bartlett said that most fellow Republicans misunderstand his motives by sounding the tax increase alarm.

"When I'm predicting tax increases, I'm not advocating them," Bartlett said. "I figure that to be forewarned is to be forearmed."

He said that it is wise to plan ahead to structure the inevitable tax increases to do the least economic harm.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan agreed in testimony before the House Budget Committee last week to a bleak assessment of the deficit situation, and called the impending retirement of baby-boomers "one of the most difficult fiscal situations we've ever faced."

In the House budget hearing, Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., said that the federal deficit is so large that to erase it by only applying spending cuts, the federal government would have choices: To slash Social Security benefits, cut Medicare spending and eliminate all federal monies contributed to Medicaid or to choose an across-the-board cut in all areas other than defense, homeland security, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or to cut all domestic discretionary spending.

Greenspan's two hours of testimony before the House Budget Committee did

Possibility of draft renewed after Congressman calls for service Copyright 2004 Sidelines via U-Wire (On Dean Website) University Wire April 26, 2004 Monday

 

LENGTH: 1092 words HEADLINE: Possibility of draft renewed after Congressman calls for service BYLINE: By Maura Satchell, Sidelines; SOURCE: Middle Tennessee State U. DATELINE: MURFREESBORO, Tenn.

U.S. military forces have faced the deadliest month since the fall of Saddam Hussein, and talk of reinstating the draft has resurfaced in Congress.

Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb) hinted of the draft at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Iraq and Afghanistan when he called for mandatory national service. Comparing thinly-stretched forces and the evolution of serious fighting in Iraq to "a steam engine coming right down the track at us," Hagel said his intent is to spread the burden of fighting wars among the wealthy as well as the less affluent.

Similar thinking led Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) to introduce a bill in January 2003 entitled "Universal National Service Act of 2003." This act, which is currently held up in committee, would require a two-year period of national service, either in the military or some other form of government service. A bill proposed by Rep. Fritz Hollings (D-S.C.) is in a committee in the Senate, too.

"I don't know anyone in the executive branch of the government who believes it would be appropriate or necessary to reinstate the draft," Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld told the Newspaper Association of America recently.

In early November 2003, the Department of Defense prompted speculation of the possibility of the reinstatement of the draft by posting a message seeking " Draft Board Volunteers" on the DOD's Web site. After media notice, the post was removed but has recently been revamped and placed back on the DOD's Web site with a clear message that the solicitation is not in any way related to a perceived need to reinstate the draft in the near future.

Conscription would be needed if force readiness becomes a serious issue. The Pentagon announced that all of the branches of the military met or exceeded their targeted re-enlistment goals and recruiting goals for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2003, and for the six months ended March 31 are encouraging as well. No figures have been released for the reserves or National Guard, however, and those numbers are expected to come in well below target. Targeted numbers were reduced for most branches due to stop-loss

Social Security pending problemBy Maura SatchellSidelines (Middle Tennessee State U.)03/08/2004

(U-WIRE) MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The government has a daunting task ahead of it in addressing two serious fiscal problems: The ballooning federal deficit and the impending retirements of millions of baby boomers.

Bruce Bartlett, a staunch supporter of the Reagan administration tax cuts and trickle-down economic theory, said tax increases are inevitable and likely to come right after the elections, no matter which party is in office. Bartlett is a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative thinktank.

In an article written for Townhall.com, Bartlett predicts some really bad times ahead, based on his reading of the 2005 federal budget drafted by the Bush administration.

"Buried in an appendix volume where reporters are unlikely to notice, it paints a chilling picture of long-term budgetary trends," he said in the article.

That section of the budget projects federal spending will increase from 20 percent of the gross domestic product to 52 percent in 2080, primarily due to interest on the national debt, Bartlett wrote, which expands to 20 percent of the GDP.

But will the current administration wait until after the elections in November to raise taxes?

"Oh, absolutely. They're not going to do anything before the election unless their hand is forced by extraordinary economic events that can't be contemplated at this point," Bartlett told National Public Radio in an interview last Friday.

Bartlett said that most fellow Republicans misunderstand his motives by sounding the tax increase alarm.

"When I'm predicting tax increases, I'm not advocating them," Bartlett said. "I figure that to be forewarned is to be forearmed."

He said that it is wise to plan ahead to structure the inevitable tax increases to do the least economic harm.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan agreed in testimony before the House Budget Committee last week to a bleak assessment of the deficit situation, and called the impending retirement of baby-boomers "one of the most difficult fiscal situations we've ever faced."

In the House budget hearing, Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., said that the federal deficit is so large that to erase it by only applying spending cuts, the federal government would have choices: To slash Social Security benefits, cut Medicare spending and eliminate all federal monies contributed to Medicaid or to choose an across-the-board cut in all areas other than defense, homeland security, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or to cut all domestic discretionary spending.

Greenspan's two hours of testimony before the House Budget Committee did

orders that were implemented in recent months that required many service members to remain on active duty after their contracted term had expired.

In the Middle Tennessee area, recruiting levels have been good. The army has signed more than 240 new enlistees to date. A local recruiter said that enlistment varies week by week with the number of casualties in Iraq.

The Recruiting Station Nashville Marine Corps has signed 471 new active duty leathernecks since Oct. 1, 2003. This figure is down slightly from 503 for the same period in 2002-3.

"As you can see, there is a little bit of a variation between the two years, but nothing significant," Staff Sgt. Jason S. Fischer, spokesman for the Marine Corps, said. Fischer said Recruiting Station Nashville, which encompasses Tennessee, Northern Alabama and Northern Mississippi, brings in approximately 1,000 new recruits.

The Nashville region recruiters have had more inquiries from interested citizens since Sept. 11, 2001, Fischer said, but the flood of interest has not necessarily produced more qualified candidates. The Marine Corps is selective of its enlistees and turns many prospects away. Nevertheless, the Corps has met its monthly recruiting goals for the past 105 consecutive months, according to Fischer, something other branches cannot say.

"It is not habit for us to comment on pending legislation, but I can say that we have had a great deal of success with an 'all-volunteer' force since the end of the Vietnam conflict," Fischer said of the possibility of the need for the draft. "Accepting citizens into the Marine Corps who want to be here creates a mutually-beneficial relationship and an overall high-quality force."

Two recent surveys provide a different picture where morale is concerned and the likelihood of re-enlistment in the future.

A recent survey of 1,053 active-duty military spouses by The Washington Post and others found a majority believe the Army is going to experience a retention problem down the road. Interestingly, however, 35 percent said their own spouse will be remaining in the military, just 3 percent less than those who expected theirs to exit the military. The other survey, conducted by Army Research Institute, questioned more than 3,300 enlisted personnel. It shows a 12 percent decline in the number of National Guard members that expect to remain in until retirement and a 6 percent drop in those likely to re-enlist.

Stars and Stripes, the independent newspaper serving the U.S. military worldwide, took another survey back in October 2003 of 2,000 servicemen and women based in Iraq. Of the respondents, 34 percent were experiencing low morale as compared to 27 percent who were experiencing high personal morale. Of all of the servicemen queried, the lowest morale was identified among reservists and National Guard members, 48 percent

Social Security pending problemBy Maura SatchellSidelines (Middle Tennessee State U.)03/08/2004

(U-WIRE) MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The government has a daunting task ahead of it in addressing two serious fiscal problems: The ballooning federal deficit and the impending retirements of millions of baby boomers.

Bruce Bartlett, a staunch supporter of the Reagan administration tax cuts and trickle-down economic theory, said tax increases are inevitable and likely to come right after the elections, no matter which party is in office. Bartlett is a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, a conservative thinktank.

In an article written for Townhall.com, Bartlett predicts some really bad times ahead, based on his reading of the 2005 federal budget drafted by the Bush administration.

"Buried in an appendix volume where reporters are unlikely to notice, it paints a chilling picture of long-term budgetary trends," he said in the article.

That section of the budget projects federal spending will increase from 20 percent of the gross domestic product to 52 percent in 2080, primarily due to interest on the national debt, Bartlett wrote, which expands to 20 percent of the GDP.

But will the current administration wait until after the elections in November to raise taxes?

"Oh, absolutely. They're not going to do anything before the election unless their hand is forced by extraordinary economic events that can't be contemplated at this point," Bartlett told National Public Radio in an interview last Friday.

Bartlett said that most fellow Republicans misunderstand his motives by sounding the tax increase alarm.

"When I'm predicting tax increases, I'm not advocating them," Bartlett said. "I figure that to be forewarned is to be forearmed."

He said that it is wise to plan ahead to structure the inevitable tax increases to do the least economic harm.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan agreed in testimony before the House Budget Committee last week to a bleak assessment of the deficit situation, and called the impending retirement of baby-boomers "one of the most difficult fiscal situations we've ever faced."

In the House budget hearing, Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., said that the federal deficit is so large that to erase it by only applying spending cuts, the federal government would have choices: To slash Social Security benefits, cut Medicare spending and eliminate all federal monies contributed to Medicaid or to choose an across-the-board cut in all areas other than defense, homeland security, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid or to cut all domestic discretionary spending.

Greenspan's two hours of testimony before the House Budget Committee did

of whom said that morale was low. It, too, reflected upcoming retention worries, based on responses.

With 135,000 troops stationed in Iraq, with a need for a similar-sized force until at least September 2004, the military is stretched thin. Rumsfeld confirmed that fact in February when he advised Congress that an additional 33,000 troops would be necessary to fight the global war on terrorism. This expanded military force will be needed for four to five years.

Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that units were identified to quickly deploy to Iraq in the event they are needed. So much military committed in Iraq exposes a vulnerability that Rumsfeld spoke of to author Bob Woodward that has been repeated in some way or another by many analysts and experts in other forums.

Rumsfeld considered this, he said in his 2002 interview with Woodward according to the recently released transcripts. "While you were engaged in Iraq another state could try to take advantage of your involvement or pre-occupation," he said.

The military has a trump card in the inactive ready reserves forces.

One Army spokesperson said recently that these forces were last used during the Gulf War when Vice President Dick Cheney was the Secretary of Defense.

Every military enlistee agrees to a commitment in the inactive ready reserves once the active duty time has been completed. Typically a period of two to six years is required in the IRR. The number of inactive ready reserve members was not available.

(C) 2003 Sidelines via U-WIRE

Tennessean, The (Nashville, TN) July 11, 2002 Author: MAURA SATCHELLFREELANCE OK Edition: 2NDSection: Main NewsPage: 1AConfederate theme would be at heart of all-male college Military school gets Bedford County OK By MAURA SATCHELL State Correspondent Plans are under way to build an all-male private military college in Bedford County with strong Confederate ties.

The Southern Military Institute, whose organizers received national attention when they publicly called for such a school to be built in the South in 1997, has received a zoning exemption to build its school on a 446-acre site just west of Shelbyville, Bedford County Planning Director Sam Riddle said.

"All the necessary approvals at the county level were granted," Riddle said. The property has not been purchased because the group hasn't come up with all the funding, but two possible architects have volunteered to provide their services for free, said Michael Guthrie of Madison, Ala., one of the founders of the nonprofit college. Once the property is purchased, he said, it will take about a year to get the school up and running.

"We have kids that want to come now," Guthrie said. The school will set its capacity at 1,200, he said, the size of a typical Marine Corps brigade.

The school will display the Confederate flag and celebrate Confederate Memorial Day, which is April 26. It will have no problem accepting minority students, Guthrie said.

"We honor the military tradition of the South, a military history that has served this country well," said Guthrie, a VMI graduate of 1977 and commander of a field artillery unit in the National Guard based out of Manchester, Tenn. He is the president of the school's board of directors. "The intent is understandable, but I think they also need to step back and look at the perception," said the Rev. Dwight Ogleton, head of the NAACP chapter in neighboring Rutherford County.

"Our hope would be that they would adjust to the climate and environment in Shelbyville," Ogleton said, "and move forward in a progressive way." Guthrie was the president of the Tennessee chapter of the Virginia Military Institute Alumni Association in 1997, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the public college had to let in women.

Guthrie said that he and other alumni of VMI and the Citadel, a South Carolina public military college that was also once all-male, turned their disappointment into action and drafted the mission statement that would become Southern Military Institute. Reactions to the school and its proposed all-male admissions policy were skeptical. "I think (Guthrie) will put himself in for a lawsuit there," said Sam Arnold, the Bedford County veteran's service officer.

John R. Vile, professor and chairman of the political science department at Middle Tennessee State University, said, "Frankly, it seems to me that they're probably shooting themselves in the foot. I don't think there are that many fanatical Confederates with enough money" to support such a school.

He pointed out, however, that niche markets exist. "You have your Bob Jones Universities," he said, referring to the conservative, religious, private South Carolina school.

Southern Military Institute intends to incorporate a Christian atmosphere, with Christian course work to be required of all cadets, including those of non-Christian faiths, a fact that the school organizers announce publicly on their Web site.

Guthrie is confident that Southern Military Institute can exclude women. First, he said, the school will be strictly privately funded.

Second, the school will not have any ties to the U.S. military's Reserve Officer Training Corps programs, in which college students are groomed for an officer's commission in one of the service branches after gaining a bachelor's degree.

Students attending the school will receive military training all the same. Upon entrance to the institute, each student will be required to enlist in one of the U.S. military's reserve programs: the Marine Corps Reserves, the National Guard, or Air Force or Army Reserve. Copyright (c) The Tennessean. All rights reserved. Reproduced with the permission of Gannett Co., Inc. by NewsBank, inc.Record Number: nsh2002071108193740