They get dollars from net exports to the US. These end up at the Bank of China. The Bank of China rationally prefers to earn interest on dollar holdings, so these are converted to US treasuries. This is nothing more than a balance sheet operation on the books of the Fed: Bank of China reserves at the Fed are debited and Bank of China treasuries are credited. There’s no net flow of dollars to the US Treasury.
Oh Jesus. FDR only created the SS Trust fund for political reasons. Why not just eliminate FICA and fund SS out of the general revenue?
Again, it's not these mystical and esoteric "unfunded liabilities" which are the problem. Like I said, the only problem would be the availability of real resources in the future, which will not be an issue as long as the economy grows along with the population, and we have an increase in productivity that will enable us to have fewer workers to supply increased numbers. This is basically what's happened historically, so the only problem I see is this illogical and almost religious devotion to austerity that wants to save future needs as opposed to investing. It's retarded and has zero basis in economics .
I agree, individuals should invest for their future need. They should start with the 12.4% of income currently spent on SS taxes.
Not everyone has the time or inclination to invest. We've already went over why privatization of SS is a horrible idea.
Here's the Kimura Grand Bargain for American Prosperity:
1. Suspend FICA
2. Fund SS out of the general revenue
3. Raise SS payments to to a minimum of $2,000 per month.
Problem solved, everyone can go have a beer.
You forgot one:
4. National bankruptcy.
This is the last time I'm going to say this: The US government, as the sovereign issuer of the dollar, cannot go bankrupt.
The Congress spends by basically telling the FED to credit a member bank account at the FED. This is entirely independent from tax revenues and/or borrowing.
What you pedantically and erroneously refer to as borrowing is simply shifting $$$$ from reserve accounts at the FED to securities accounts at the FED. When debt payments are made, in terms of operationally servicing said debt, $$$$ is shifted from securities accounts to reserve accounts over at the FED.
Oh yeah, and your tax payments are nothing more than unprinting $$$$ ( demand accounts are debited, the monetary circuit isn't a feedback loop with a fixed amount of $$$$ that is perpetually recycled).
I fuckin' don't how many ways I can spell this out for you. I can create a diagram in Photoshop or something.
You can't be serious. You're trying to tell us that when a U.S citizen or a foreign government exchanges their cash for a U.S. Treasury bond that the government hasn't borrowed money.
It takes a special kind of fool to fall for that abracadabra.
You're confused as usual. I worked for a primary dealer for five at the start of my career, so I understand the mechanics better than most.
When a foreign government or citizen exchanges $$$$ for a Treasury, $$$$ is simply debited from a reserve account and credited to a securities account (US Treasuries are nothing more than interest beating dollar deposits at the FED).
Let's use China, the right wing's favorite boogeyman to prey on the ignorance of the average person. All Chinese dollars come from the US. They don't lend us our own fiat, nor do they have a dollar factory in Hong Kong. They obtain US $$$$ from net exports to the US which end up at the Bank of China. They then convert their US $$$$ to US Treasuries which is nothing more than a balance sheet operation, consisting of a series of debits and credits, between the Bank of China's reserve account and securities accounts at the FED.
There's no abracadabra here. Uncle Sam can NEVER run of his supply of dollars as the sovereign issuer of the currency.