JimBowie1958
Old Fogey
- Sep 25, 2011
- 63,590
- 16,828
- 2,220
I believe it was president Johnson, that combined social security revenues and expenditures in to the total, overall budget, so that LBJ could mask the amount of tax dollars spent on the VietNam war/defense....by SS spending put in to the discretionary budget, it made the percent of tax monies spent on the war, a smaller percentage....That is because the Democrats that controlled Congress voted for SS funds to be general funds, their logic, if you can call it that, is that the US Government would keep track of what was owed and replace the funds. Of course one must ask where the money to repay what they took comes from since they spend every penny they get.
Johnson did not do this to steal SS Surplus monies to use for what income taxes should be paying....
There were no social security surplus funds to rob or borrow from, until Pres Reagan increased and doubled our payroll taxes on SS from 3% to 6%, two decades later.
Trust Fund Data
www.ssa.gov
Money flowing into the trust funds is invested in U. S. Government securities. Because the government spends this borrowed cash, some people see the trust fund asset reserves as an accumulation of securities that the government will be unable to make good on in the future. Without legislation to restore long-range solvency of the trust funds, redemption of long-term securities prior to maturity would be necessary.
Far from being "worthless IOUs," the investments held by the trust funds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U. S. Government. The government has always repaid Social Security, with interest. The special-issue securities are, therefore, just as safe as U.S. Savings Bonds or other financial instruments of the Federal government.
Many options are being considered to restore long-range trust fund solvency. These options are being considered now, well in advance of the year the trust fund reserves are likely to be depleted. It is thus likely that legislation will be enacted to restore long-term solvency, making it unlikely that the trust funds' securities will need to be redeemed on a large scale prior to maturity.
Social Security is fine.