MANY TRUST FUNDS CONTRIBUTE TO 'SURPLUS'

A particularly revealing story out of Washington recently told of how the federal government not only counts the huge Social Security fund surplus, but billions of dollars in surpluses in more than 100 other trust funds to declare that the federal budget will be in the black in 2000.

Don't be deceived: Take all of the trust-fund money out of the computations, and the budget again will be in the red, this time to the tune of about $73 billion. That, of course, is way short of the $133 billion overall surplus for 2000 that the budget gurus would have you believe will exist.

Here's how the government came up with its inflated surplus for 2000:

It figured the largest trust fund -- Social Security -- will have a $137 billion surplus. The more than 100 other trust funds, most of which few people have ever heard of, will experience a $68 billion surplus in 2000. The government considered all sources of income and expenditures, threw in the $205 billion in trust-fund surpluses as revenue, and declared the $133 billion surplus for 2000.

The trust-fund money, of course, cannot be used for anything other than its intended purposes. But the government borrows heavily from Social Security and the other trust funds. Sooner or later, those funds must be paid back.

At least, that's the budgetary theory.

As the Associated Press story revealed, the practice is carried out routinely in projecting federal budgets.

What's more, over the next 10 years the non-Social Security trust funds are expected to amass a total surplus of $614 billion. That amount is of enormous political significance, since it represents three-fourths of the $800 billion in non-Social Security surpluses Republicans say they want for tax cuts and Democrats say they want for Medicare and other programs. Take that $614 billion out of the equation, and there is little left for either party to squabble over.

Crafty, isn't it -- making taxpayers believe that all of this money will be available to use in one way or another to the benefit of Americans?

No wonder people are finding it difficult to believe what they see and hear out of Washington these days.