At the end of a voyage of purse-popping prosperity, the United States finds itself sailing under the stormy clouds of a recession. The gloomy atmosphere of economic decline has only been worsened by several recent reports from economic analysts, most notably the Congressional Budget Office, that the Bush administration will very likely have to use surplus Social Security funds to fund federal programs. Even the Bush administration has tempered its language on the subject, taking a care to caution its previous pledge to protect Social Security surpluses with new exemptions in the case of war or recession.

This turn of events is important for many reasons. First, it shows the clear folly of the Bush administration"s tax cut. This measure, undertaken in the wake of an impending recession, has effectively halted Congressional ability to increase federal spending the classic Keynesian economic cure for economic downturn.

Bush has defended his tax cut saying that it will boost individual consumption and thereby provide the fiscal stimulus to counteract the slowing economy. This claim is unsound at best. While it is true that tax cuts help combat recession, they are less economically effective than increased federal spending. Couple this with the dire need for higher educational spending a key point in Bush"s campaign and the impropriety of Bush"s unnecessary and uncalled for tax cut is obvious.

Secondly, Bush is caught between a rock and a political hard place. If he does use Social Security surpluses to finance his budget programs, he will be reneging on a key campaign promise that both he and congressional Republicans made to their constituents. This could cause a rift both within his party and across party lines hardly a helpful possibility for a government faced with potential economic crisis. Moreover, the American public has been told by politicians that dipping into Social Security will jeopardize their retirement benefits. If the federal government breaks its financial promise to the American people to protect Social Security now, it undermines domestic and international confidence in other U.S. stock and bond markets, doing so would undermine the public"s confidence in investing.

Yet, through this storm of controversy Bush has maintained his call for increased national defense spending, at a time when his tax cut has all but eliminated excess funds for federal spending. Meanwhile, he has simultaneously marginalized the importance of education, health care and other important programs by asking that defense spending be prioritized during congressional appropriations debates.