For those who think SS has no effect on the public dept - here is a good article on the subject.

[airplaneman]

http://brucekrasting.com/deficits-aint-debt/

As the trust fund is redeemed the debt transfers to the public debt.

-Airplane

[Scuba]

1. Do you understand how the Social Security system is funded?

[Vincardog]

2. What point are you trying to make?

[airplaneman]

9. Actually I am trying to share an article that that talks about both parts of the debt.

It bothers me that the RW talks about the debt without separating the public debt from the trust fund.
It bothers me we just don't fix the problem by additional taxes mostly on the rich.
I am not trying to make a point this article was not written by me.
I see so few articles talking about the two sides of the debt, I thought it would be interesting to share one that did and I am also interested in what others have to say about it.
-Airplane

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. The general fund borrows excess money collected by social security.

Then pays that money back. It's primary affect is to provide a source from which the general fund can borrow funds. You might have a better audience for this at free republic or fantasy land.

[PSPS]

4. It's no use trying to discuss anything with "a dining room table."

The banksters and their criminal cohorts in congress are really salivating at the prospect of stealing the trust fund. There's no shortage of "articles" like this one that try to confuse people into thinking that the only place "real money" can exist is in a mattress.

The SS trust fund ideally runs at zero. Its current large surplus is there by design to cover anticipated benefits (it was under Reagan that this plan to create a surplus was put into place.) This excess cash is supposed to be invested to garner interest income, which is what the special SS bonds do.

The Interwebs is awash with the video of saint ronnie himself explaining how Social Security plays no role in the national debt or the deficit. But when you have criminals, safe in the knowledge that they have congress on their pad, eyeing all of that money, they'll stop at nothing to get people to think there's a "crisis" that only dismantling Social Security will "fix." Thus, we see all of these crazy nonsensical articles.

[Agnosticsherbet]

6. Actually, my dining room table is a great conversationalist compared...

to freepers, cavers, and others who won't even bother to try to learn how the system works.

[GeorgeGist]

5. Yes!

If we welsh on SS, then the debt will be less.

[Jim__]

7. Most people on SS, paid in to SS.

Yes, over the last 30 yrs the gov has been borrowing against the SS Fund and reducing taxes on the rich. Now, they're trying to tell us the SS Fund is not liquid. But SS has bonds against the US gov.

Why should the US gov pay all its debts; except the debt to working class Americans? It's because the Koch brothers and their allies are trying to convince the working class that there is an SS problem. There isn't.

[Thinkingabout]

8. If there was enough funds available to fund a useless senseless war in Iraq

There is plenty of funds for SSI. Oh, we did not have the funds for the war and those in charge never found the funds except to borrow. Now some of the same ones who voted for the unfunded war thinks the answer is to cut SSI. How about cutting their pension and salary to cover the cost of SSI. Greedy Bastards

[rickford66]

10. What should be done with the money withheld from paychecks ?

Should it be stuffed into mattresses? Buried? Loaning it to ourselves is the safest investment in the world.

[suston96]

11. Here is how the SS Trust Fund works, and more.......

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html#n4

Take the trouble to read these very simple instructions.

The Trust Fund is not green cash stored in warehouses. It cannot be stolen by anybody.

SS funds collected from payroll and elsewhere MUST be invested by law. They earn considerable interest, enough to pay administrative costs of the SS system.