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SS has to borrow from the Treasury as monthly payments exceed monthly revenue.
The "surplus" you speak of are non-negotiable special Treasury Bonds put there by Congress.
You see at one point SS took in more than it paid out. There actually was a surplus but Congress decided to "borrow" that surplus each and every month since the Clinton days. In return they gave the SS Trust Fund an "IOU".
Top 5 Social Security Myths
Myth #1: Social Security is going broke. Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.6 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a 'T'). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever.1 After 2037, it'll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits—and again, that's without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers' retirement decades ago.2 Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.
Myth #2: We have to raise the retirement age because people are living longer. Reality: This is a red-herring to trick you into agreeing to benefit cuts.Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were in the 1930s. The reason average life expectancy is higher is mostly because many fewer people die as children than they did 70 years ago.3 What's more, what gains there have been are distributed very unevenly—since 1972, life expectancy increased by 6.5 years for workers in the top half of the income brackets, but by less than 2 years for those in the bottom half.4 But those intent on cutting Social Security love this argument because raising the retirement age is the same as an across-the-board benefit cut.
Myth #3: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security.Reality: Social Security doesn't need to be fixed But if we want to strengthen it, here's a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share. If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come.5 Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income.6 But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.
Myth #4: The Social Security Trust Fund has been raided and is full of IOUs
Reality: Not even close to true. The Social Security Trust Fund isn't full of IOUs, it's full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.7 The reason Social Security holds only treasury bonds is the same reason many Americans do: The federal government has never missed a single interest payment on its debts. President Bush wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market—which would have been disastrous—but luckily, he failed. So the trillions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund, which are separate from the regular budget, are as safe as can be.
Myth #5: Social Security adds to the deficit Reality: It's not just wrong—it's impossible! By law, Social Security's funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. That means that Social Security can't add one penny to the deficit.8
Defeating these myths is the first step to stopping Social Security cuts.
Yes, the "SS is going broke thingy" is just another scare tactic to get us to voluntarily give it up- even something we have paid into for years- even this, they want to take a way and due to far too many of us lapping up and regurgitating what the tabloid media spews.
Yes, indeed we are so afraid of losing who knows what (fill in the blank________________) that we will, out of fear and blind belief, end up losing everything VOLUNTARILY.
SS doesn't have anything. Monies collected by the IRS immediately go into the general fund and spent any way the government sees fit. An IOU note is issued to the SS fund. It's all a big ponzi scheme, relying on people to keep working and pumping in money to support retirees. But the dumba$$ boomers, the largest generational cohort ever, decided to quit reproducing themselves...another reason the border will never really close.
Interest from the intergovernmental bonds is just paid from the government, it is not like real interest. When we are in deficit it is just added to the on budget debt. It is like taking money from your right pocket, putting in your left and then spending it.You didn't earn money in your left pocket.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan
SS has to borrow from the Treasury as monthly payments exceed monthly revenue.
The "surplus" you speak of are non-negotiable special Treasury Bonds put there by Congress.
You see at one point SS took in more than it paid out. There actually was a surplus but Congress decided to "borrow" that surplus each and every month since the Clinton days. In return they gave the SS Trust Fund an "IOU".
Actually the borrowing started with LBL.
Either way since the government could not invest it, there was really no option.
I have a hard time believing this, since I was denied twice for petty reasons before finally being accepted. I can't think of anything else it could have been other than that they were just trying to put off giving me checks, because I was as medically eligible as you can get. I even qualified for presumptive disability.
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