One reason Social Security is "in trouble" is because greedy people elected to public office . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . took it and left IOUs. The SS fund is not in bad shape. The ability to pay back what was purloined by the greedy people in elected office is what's not certain.

These two facts have been subsumed into the "SS is in Trouble" meme you've been hearing.

[Yupster]

1. You're right

The surplus should have been physically removed from the government.

It should have been divided into thousands of little pots and put into cd's, insurance fixed acounts, even foreign government bonds. Then the money would stil be there.

We violated grandma's best advice and put all our eggs in one basket.

Of course if we did that, congress wouldn't have been able to spend it which wouldn't have been as much fun.

[daleanime]

2. Nice way to put it.

And if you want to know where the money is now, ask the top 1%.:grr:

[napi21]

3. It's REALLY the Pubs description thaat's put doubt into the

SS system. Those IOU's are no different than th debt we owe to China, India, Japan, etc. They're all loans we've made to pay for other things. BTW...THEY ALLNEED TO BE PAID BACK!!! The Pubs are trying to blame it on the SS system and renig on the debt they owe to it & US, but we're not going to let them get away with it!!!

[daleanime]

4. You better believe it!

:bounce:

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. The only thing the SS trust fund can invest in is IOU's

Those IOU's bear the words "backed by the full faith and credit of the United States".

If the US has no intention of repaying its debts, then we have bigger problems.

[napi21]

8. I happen to think the Pubs are reacting to the SS debt the same as

a kid does with money he borrowd from his parents. "Yea, I got the money, and yea I SHOULD pay it back, but, I GOTTA pay my credit card bill instead." I really believe they will try eveything possible to renig on that debt!

[lumberjack_jeff]

10. I think we should throw a couple of pubs in jail to make the point

"Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."

[dkf]

11. The reason they created the SS surplus was to give the impression the old timers

Were paying for themselves when the ratio of workers to the ratio of retirees eventually goes 3 to 1. Yet because we have spent the money we've put the entire burden on those workers anyway. The question is do you, you spouse, and your sibling have enough extra funds to fully support your mother's rent in a separate residence with medical treatment and food, clothing, electricity, and spending money? This in addition to the taxes that will be going up to balance the budget. If you don't have a decent cushion, how can you afford this?

That is what the adults of tomorrow will be facing.

[lumberjack_jeff]

13. No, no, no.

It wasn't "the workers" who got the benefit of the income tax cut that the SS trust fund financed. It was the wealthy, investors and trust fund kids.

The debt won't be paid entirely by workers because they don't have the money - the top 1% do.

[girl gone mad]

6. The IOU's are just debt obligations, like any other bond.

Leaving the surplus in some savings account or lock box would have been foolish.

A sovereign currency regime can always fund its debt obligations.

There is no crisis with SS.

[Angry Dragon]

7. "Off with their heads"

as soon as the money is put back in

Ask boner what he did with the money and simpson .......... they were there when the money was taken out

[napi21]

9. Actially I don't think Boner was. The SS $$ was originally combined with the general fund back

in the 80's. Simpson probably was though.

[Bitwit1234]

12. The "clown" called Reagan started the stealing from the Social Security

Fund. With all the tax cuts he gave the rich he couldn't balance the budget so he took the money from Social Security to pay for them. George the gorger took it to pay for his WARS.

[Stinky The Clown]

14. You're quite right

I recall Al Gore being ridiculed about his "lock box" analogy.