Download or read book Putting Trust in the US Budget written by Eric M. Patashnik and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the United States many important programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, are paid from trust funds. At a time when major social insurance funds are facing insolvency, this timely book provides the first comprehensive study of this significant yet little-studied feature of the American welfare state. Trust funds are at the heart of US budgeting and public social provision, and also raise a fundamental question of democratic politics: can current officeholders bind their successors? Through detailed case studies Patashnik shows how long term government commitments are effectively designed.