ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 5, 1995 TAG: 9512050074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: what's on your mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: If every retiree with a $30,000 household income were to give up one month's Social Security benefit, how far would it go toward reducing the national debt?
B.S., Roanoke
Not far enough, given our current tendencies.
The only available research in this area calculated that households with incomes of $40,000 and above receive $50 billion a year in Social Security.
We could only guess how much households with incomes of $30,000 and above receive. Let's say, for the sake of discussion, it's $65 billion.
Nobody has an exact figure because Social Security keeps track of recipients' income only when they continue to work.
No tabs are kept on those with substantial interest from savings, for example.
The number of households is significant, though. The National Taxpayers Union estimated that 48 percent of the households receiving federal benefits had incomes above $30,000 in 1991. Even millionaires can collect Social Security.
So what does this mean? Not much, unless everybody was willing to let his congressman vote to cut benefits for the well-off.
Reducing the national deficit by one month's share of $65 billion - our guesstimate from above - would have cut this year's red ink by $5.4 billion, to $170 billion.
The national debt, though, is $4.9 trillion, a figure that barely would be nicked.
It would be nice to make some inroads into the debt. Given our government's proclivity to borrow from Social Security and other trust funds, there's no guarantee that $5.4 billion would truly wind up as a saving.|
New bridge's impact
Q: Why is Roanoke building the Second Street Bridge to bring four lanes of traffic into downtown Roanoke streets, which are narrower than that?
B.A., Vinton
A: The Second Street Bridge project will bring traffic from Orange Avenue into an existing four-lane section of Second Street.
No other street widenings are planned, but Bob Bengtson, city traffic engineer, pointed out Franklin Road was four-laned about two years ago in the Elm Avenue area.
Apparently, the hope is that traffic flow will change without becoming overcrowded.
From Second Street at Salem Avenue, traffic from the new street and bridge will disperse in several directions.
Left turns onto Campbell Avenue and Franklin Road will be the primary routes into downtown.
Right turns onto Salem and Church avenues, and on Franklin Road toward Southwest Roanoke, will be the other primary routes.
At least some of the new traffic apparently is expected to head south on Franklin Road, rather than into downtown.|
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Give us a call at 981-3118. Maybe we can find the answer.
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