On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 2:30 PM, meekerdb <meeke...@verizon.net> wrote: > On 12/17/2012 10:14 AM, Richard Ruquist wrote: > > In addition the United States has been borrowing from what we own. Our > indebtedness to ourselves from borrowing from the Social Security Fund > that was set up in Reagan's Administration is double our indebtedness > to China for example. My perspective is that the fund is a Republican > means to limit the effectiveness of Social Security. It's against the > law to borrow from it but that has not stopped the borrowing. > > > It's not against the law. It's exactly the opposite. The law as set up in > 1934 requires that any SS surplus be invested in Treasury Bonds, i.e. loaned > to the U.S. government. This was very sensibly set up so that the SS would > not be influencing the stock market by investing (picking winners and > losers). The SS trust fund is always held as Treasury Bonds. That has no > effect on the debt. If the government weren't loaned that money it would > just have to borrow from somewhere else. And it doesn't mean SS is broke. > SS built up a surplus in anticipation of the baby-boomers retiring. Now > it's paying out the surplus and the Treasury will have to borrow from > elsewhere or tax to meet it's bond obligations (to SS and every other bond > holder). > > Brent > You are right about the law. My first article read on the Trust Fund was incorrect in that regard. But the Trust Fund is "off-budget", sorta like funding of the Iraq war was off-budget.
Also wiki claims that "However, due to interest (earned at a 4.4% rate in 2011) the program will run an overall surplus that adds to the fund through the end of 2021." and Wiki expects the Trust Fund to be entirely depleted by 2033 at which time benefits will drop by 25%. It seems unfair if retirees have to take such a cut now to balance the budget. Richard > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en.
