1.   A billion here, a billion there, as the late Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois used to say, and the anticipated surplus disappears.

2.   But Democrats also believe that using the bulk of anticipated surpluses in a way that helps Social Security and Medicare works for them on both political and policy grounds.

3.   Democrats said it is imprudent to lock in a big tax cut now when there is no assurance that the anticipated surpluses will materialize.

4.   One is not to question too aggressively the assumption that the trillions of dollars in anticipated surpluses will actually materialize.

5.   The Bush administration says the additional money for the Pentagon can be found in the anticipated federal surplus next year.

6.   They are increasingly resorting to accounting tricks and fiscal gimmicks to preserve the appearance that both the anticipated surplus and the strict spending limits will remain intact.

7.   They strongly prefer to use our anticipated surpluses to pay down the debt and build up a cushion to ensure future solvency for Social Security and Medicare.

8.   Those cuts would not require any new taxes for now, since they would come out of an anticipated surplus in the state budget.

9.   Unless, of course, the anticipated surplus turns out to be illusory.

10.   It will be paid with city funds and an anticipated surplus.