Hitting Up the Sacred Cow for a Loan; Academics Eye Social Security Surplus as Higher Education Bank
Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) looks at the growing Social Security surplus and sees tax cuts for the workers of today, not paper cuts in the budget deficit of the 1990s or retirement checks for the aged baby boomers of tomorrow. Economist Barry Bluestone has another view: A pool of spare cash for education loans for college students and older workers.</br></br>Bluestone, who teaches at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, proposes touching the sacred cow of American politics because he foresees multiple benefits for the nation, such as wider access to higher education and job training, stronger international competitiveness and, possibly, a higher balance in Social Security when the elderly population reaches a peak in the next century.</br></br>"People are always jittery when you mention Social Security," Bluestone acknowledged. "We have to get over the initial reaction, which will be, `Woof, not with my Social Security funds.' "</br></br>He added: "I don't think there is strong opposition to the program except that it is newfangled. . . . You can't think of a better investment for the Social Security fund . . . than investing in our own people."</br></br>The proposal, drafted by Bluestone and other academics under the auspices of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal think tank, would carve a revolving loan fund out of the Social Security surplus and permit any American to borrow up to $40,000 to finance a college education, apprenticeship or job training. Unlike the main federal student loan program, eligibility would not be need-tested.