[biggermike]

> Policy-wise, I would like to capital gains reform and strict responsibility for congress when making financial decisions (eg no more "borrowing" from SS/Medicare, pass a budget as required in the Constitution, etc).

I see this sentiment repeated often, but what does it mean exactly? The government has borrowed from SS, for example, since its inception in the 1930s. The entirety of SS assets are held in government debt and all efforts to diversify these assets have become politicized as "privatizing SS".

[giantg2]

One could say that there should be an ammendment guaranteeing that congress can no longer borrow from funds earmarked for specific programs, or at least citizen entitlement programs.

[biggermike]

What makes you think such an amendment would have enough support to pass? Prior attempts at Social Security reform which diverted as little as 15% of assets away from treasuries were incredibly unpopular.

[giantg2]

Support in Congress - probably not.

There's not enough support in Congress for any kind of ammendment. Everyone's afraid of what it could turn out as or what it could lead to.