Conservative Forum — Week of July 21

Poll Shows Iowa Voters Fear Social Security Crisis

A new poll released by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA) shows that 81% of registered Iowan voters consider Social Security a financial security risk and another 9% are undecided as to the urgency of reforming Social Security. Another 10% viewed Social Security as solvent.

Other key findings from the Iowa poll include:

35.3% favor personal retirement accounts (57.5% of Republicans and 13.9% of Democrats).

19.8% favor raising the retirement age (12.3% of Republicans and 28.5% of Democrats).

18.8% favor increasing the payroll tax (8.2% of Republicans and 32.5% of Democrats).

"Solving the crisis facing Social Security is the single most important domestic policy issue facing our country," said Mike Whalen, Iowa businessman and NCPA board member. "All candidates for President should tell voters how they plan to save Social Security for generations to come."

The poll was conducted by Victory Enterprises last April and has a margin of error of +/- 4.9%.

For more information on the National Center for Policy Analysis and Iowa survey, visit its website at: www.teamncpa.org/iowa/survey.html.

Study Finds Economic Burdens in Estate Tax

While the Senate has yet to act on the pending legislation on making the repeal of the estate tax permanent, the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation (IRET) has issued an advisory that shows how the estate tax "reduces capital formation . . . lowers productivity, wages, employment, and federal revenues from the payroll and income taxes."

According to IRET, "The estate tax encourages upper bracket savers to transfer, sooner rather than otherwise, their assets to their lower bracket children and to tax-exempt charities; the government loses a portion of the income tax revenues on the subsequent earnings of the assets and on the charitable deductions taken by the donors."

Stephen J. Entin, President and Executive Director of IRET, points out that the "estate tax contributes to the tax bias against saving and investment." Entin cites a study conducted for the Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI) on the estimated gains from a full repeal of the estate tax:

Increase annual gross domestic product by nearly 0.9% or by today’s economy, by nearly $100 billion.

Boost the capital stock by 4.1% or about $1.7 trillion of additional investment.

Add 275,000 more jobs to the economy.

Put about $1 trillion in additional GDP over a ten year period.

Entin points out that the "biggest losers from the heavy taxation of saving have been workers deprived of the capital they need in order to become more productive and more highly paid. Remember, taxes on capital are largely shifted to labor . . ."

For further information on IRET or Advisory No. 156, Repeal of the Estate Tax: Good For the Budget as well as the Country, visit the IRET website at: www.iret.org.

National Journalism Center Seeks Internship Applicants

The National Journalism Center, which offers training in the skills of media work within the context of a free society, is accepting applications for its fall internship program.

The NJC provides practical experience in researching, writing and editing, plus outside assignments with established journalists in the Washington, D.C., region. Scholarships are available to students from selected central and southwestern states.

The fall session runs from September 15 to December 12. The deadline for applications is August 1. Apply online, or contact Ken Grubbs or Mark LaRochelle at The National Journalism Center, 110 Elden Street, Herndon, Va. 20170.

Applicants can contact the NJC office by phone: 1-800-292-9231, fax: 703-318-9122 or via e-mail: [email protected].

Research Shows DDT Saves Lives in Malarial Epidemics

A new report published by the Canadian-based Fraser Institute details the deadly human toll that Kenya, Sri Lanka and other African and Asian countries have faced since succumbing to pressure from Western nations to ban the use of DDT.

Many tropical countries now face widespread malaria epidemics as a result of the ban on DDT, an effective and cost-efficient mosquito repellent, which helped to reduce malaria-related death rates by 70% in the 1950s.

In "Kenyan Environmental Ethics: The DDT Story," published in the May 2003 Fraser Forum, author James S. Shikwati notes the disastrous effects that have resulted from the DDT ban:

Over 100,000 malaria-related deaths occurred in Madagascar in the mid-’80s after DDT house spraying was suspended.

Sri Lanka stopped spraying houses with DDT in 1961 and subsequently experienced a major malaria epidemic.

Last year alone, Malaria epidemics infected over 300 million people and killed two million, mostly in Africa.

Shikwati points out that Kenyan researcher Davy Koech estimates that DDT could reduce malaria deaths by 80%. The Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of DDT in 1972 despite a judge’s ruling that there was no evidence for such a ban.

For more information on this and other published reports, visit the Fraser Institute website: www.fraserinstitute.ca.