If the Debt Ceiling isn't raised, & a default results, who will the public blame?

[8537]

I open up "Trust Accounts".. they are psecial bank accounts. Like escrow accounts.

And when they go to the bank, does the bank create a special vault with actual bills to store the trust? or do they....Lend out those funds to others?

That's what the SS trust has done - it has lent most of its deposits to someone else.

I promise you... if spend $1 on anything other than trust expnses or the trustee.. I have MAJOR problem on my hands.

Right, but you're not the bank receiving the deposits.

Well, this is getting silly. The bottom line is that if I filled a pension fund full of personal IOU's in the private sector, I'd probably be looking at a great deal of jail time.

No, I disagree - that's exactly what a pension fund is. The company/government takes money from you and promises a guaranteed payment at some future date. In the meantime, it uses your deposits to pay current pensioners and invests the remainder in an interest bearing something-or-other.

If, when it comes time to collect your pension, the place they invested those remainders refuses to - or can't - make payments back to the fund, then you don't get your pension.

The only difference is that in the case of pensions, the federal government insures them and the firm can be held liable. In the case of SS, the firm that borrowed the funds can use a simple act of congress to tell the fund to pound sand.

 

[Zander]

Obama does not understand LEADERSHIP. He thinks it is a boat in the harbor. Seriously, he's clueless.

 

[oldsalt]

If the Debt Ceiling isn't raised, & a default (or a partial default) is the result, who will the American public blame? I'm not asking for a partisan answer because obviously partisans will blame the opposition. I'm referring to independents, moderates, and people who are generally apolitical. They are the ones who will determine how any failure is viewed by a majority of Americans

George Bush of course.

Nope, can't blame bush. He raised that shit 7 TIMES. Nary a peep from you morons.

 

[Mustang]

If the Debt Ceiling isn't raised, & a default (or a partial default) is the result, who will the American public blame? I'm not asking for a partisan answer because obviously partisans will blame the opposition. I'm referring to independents, moderates, and people who are generally apolitical. They are the ones who will determine how any failure is viewed by a majority of Americans

George Bush of course.

Nope, can't blame bush. He raised that shit 7 TIMES. Nary a peep from you morons.

TWICE in one year, too.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

And when they go to the bank, does the bank create a special vault with actual bills to store the trust? or do they....Lend out those funds to others?

That's what the SS trust has done - it has lent most of its deposits to someone else.


Right, but you're not the bank receiving the deposits.

Well, this is getting silly. The bottom line is that if I filled a pension fund full of personal IOU's in the private sector, I'd probably be looking at a great deal of jail time.

No, I disagree - that's exactly what a pension fund is. The company/government takes money from you and promises a guaranteed payment at some future date. In the meantime, it uses your deposits to pay current pensioners and invests the remainder in an interest bearing something-or-other.

If, when it comes time to collect your pension, the place they invested those remainders refuses to - or can't - make payments back to the fund, then you don't get your pension.

The only difference is that in the case of pensions, the federal government insures them and the firm can be held liable. In the case of SS, the firm that borrowed the funds can use a simple act of congress to tell the fund to pound sand.

Dude, perhaps you didn't get the memo. This isn't what has been hapenning. They've SPENT the money. It's GONE. It hasn't been invested... it's been used to make welfare payments, military spending, etc. It's GONE.

Every year it takes more and more workers contributing to cover current obligations. It's become a Ponzi Scheme.

 

[8537]

Well, this is getting silly. The bottom line is that if I filled a pension fund full of personal IOU's in the private sector, I'd probably be looking at a great deal of jail time.

No, I disagree - that's exactly what a pension fund is. The company/government takes money from you and promises a guaranteed payment at some future date. In the meantime, it uses your deposits to pay current pensioners and invests the remainder in an interest bearing something-or-other.

If, when it comes time to collect your pension, the place they invested those remainders refuses to - or can't - make payments back to the fund, then you don't get your pension.

The only difference is that in the case of pensions, the federal government insures them and the firm can be held liable. In the case of SS, the firm that borrowed the funds can use a simple act of congress to tell the fund to pound sand.

Dude, perhaps you didn't get the memo. This isn't what has been hapenning. They've SPENT the money. It's GONE. It hasn't been invested... it's been used to make welfare payments, military spending, etc. It's GONE.

Every year it takes more and more workers contributing to cover current obligations. It's become a Ponzi Scheme.

Right, it's been invested in the only vehicle that the trust is allowed to invest in - Interest-bearing US Treasuries. It's not like the government has the option to store the surpluses somewhere in a vault. After the Reagan reforms that increased the contribution rate and led to surpluses, the government needed a place to park large surpluses - and that was the special issue treasury. Where else would you have them put the extra?

Just like your bank spent your deposits by giving them to someone else, and has to find a new depositor or new source of revenues to pay you back.

That's not to say it's how it should be done, but that's how it's done - in both cases.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

There is plenty of blame to go around

 

[sealybobo]

If the Debt Ceiling isn't raised, & a default (or a partial default) is the result, who will the American public blame? I'm not asking for a partisan answer because obviously partisans will blame the opposition. I'm referring to independents, moderates, and people who are generally apolitical. They are the ones who will determine how any failure is viewed by a majority of Americans

Looks like Republicans are going to go back to this tactic next year

McCarthy has already indicated his conference will demand major concessions from Democrats in exchange for lifting the “debt ceiling,”