saveliberty
Diamond Member
- Oct 12, 2009
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Sorry to burst the bubble...but it wouldn't save the budget a damn dime...in fact it would cause more deficits. The EXCESS money collected by Social Security is "borrowed" from the SSA and placed in the general fund to be spent as Congress sees fit.....which means more of the same ol' stuff we see happening today.
and in case anyone's wondering the full retirement age HAS been raised already on people born in 1961 and above, incrementally like the posters here suggested. At 62 people born after 1960 collect REDUCED benefits. It's no longer 62/65 for them.
I think the Feds owe the SS about 3 trillion that they have spent on other things.
That is one of the biggest issues with SS. The govt not wanting to qay the money back.
And I believe they will have to start paying it back in about 10 years or so.
People get the wrong idea, I think. The trust fund is comprised of government obligations to the trust. Yes, the government takes the money out and spends it, but that is no different than if the trust was filled with Treasury bonds. The government of China owns a ton Treasury bonds. The Federal Reserve owns a trillion dollars worth of Treasury bonds. This is money that is taken by the government and spent. That's what government borrowing is. Do people think the government borrows and then turns around and saves it? That is pointless. The government obligations in the social security trust are no different than Treasury bonds except that they are not transferable. The fact that the money "is not there" misses the point. The money is not supposed to be there.
Wow, you are as confused an individual as I have met in some time. First, understand that we are NOT talking about government money here. Social Security is a tax on people that is to be returned to the people. We had more people inputing money than taking it out due to the baby boomer era. At some point that was going to reverse itself and those access funds needed to be there in order to handle the out flow to baby boomers.
Those were protected dollars until Congress couldn't help themselves and passed legislation to raid the piggy bank. Any change in benefit levels is simply theft. Since the government cannot be trusted to keep the money, I suggest that we be given a payout on what we have paid in and allowed to invest it for our own retirements. Somewhere in the future we can just discontinue Social Security.