From slogan to legacy

摘要

In case anyone doubted the scale of George Bush's ambition for his second term, his first post-election press conference on November 4th dispelled it. The president's to-do list was long and bold. He wants to clean up unfinished business from the first term (such as tort reform) and expand his existing achievements (extending the No Child Left Behind education reform to high schools). But top of the list was tackling two economic juggernauts: Social Security (the public-pension system) and the tax code. Mr Bush's determination was palpable "I earned capital in the campaign," he explained, "and now I intend to spend it." Does he have any hope of success? Judging from the buzz in Washington, DC, Social Security tops the agenda. The problem is obvious. The looming retirement of the baby boomers will put America's pay-as-you-go public-pension system under increasing pressure. Social Security actually poses a smaller financial headache than Medicare, the health-care system for the old. But fixing Social Security would be a big step towards dealing with America's long-term fiscal problems.