Posted by
Always To The Right on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 7:49:56 PM
The big story for the day will probably be the new report that Social Security will start running in the red in 2016. The stories will include talk of a “trust fund” as well, as does the Washington Post
There is no trust fund. Social Security surpluses have always been
used by the federal government for general-fund allotments, replaced
essentially by IOUs. This became an issue in the 2000 presidential
election, when Al Gore talked about a “lockbox” to keep Congress out of
the surpluses. The “trust fund” consists of bonds, not cash, and they
have to be redeemed by the US government, which already runs massive
deficits.