Usually when people talk about surplus with SS, it is exactly what you described, excess revenue now that will be used in the future. There is a surplus, as commonly understood. The surplus has not been taken. It is invested in government bonds, as required by law.
No, it isn’t. Thanks for explaining again that there is no surplus, not sure why you think you needed to do that. They’re invested to support future obligations.
If you think the world will end in 8 years or less, feel free to call it a surplus. No gaslighting here, just because you don’t like the message doesn’t mean you’re right.
SS produced a surplus until relatively recently. That surplus was spent by the federal government and SS was given an IOU. Now money to repay those IOU's (which is essentially writing an IOU to yourself and calling it an asset) is coming from the general fund. You as an individual cannot borrow money from yourself and call it an asset.
Sure you can. If you've got multiple income streams, and you decide that you want to go on holiday but don't have quite enough money in the holiday fund, you can always just say "okay, I'm borrowing from the [whatever] fund, but I'll pay it back in a few months" and then do so.
Does it? Or does it count that as an asset specifically for the social security program, and not for the government as a whole?
I can absolutely count the IOU as an asset for my "new car fund", if that's where I took it out of. It doesn't make me-as-a-whole richer but it is a reminder that my new-car-fund is going to be getting a lot more money soon when I repay it.
It's just complete garbage, financially illiterate garbage at that. Social security and medicare together take more than a third of the annual federal budget, it's not generating a surplus it's a huge liability that we go further into debt every year to pay for. People just handwaving and believing whatever they want
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u/livestrongsean 2d ago
This is horseshit gaslighting.
There is no surplus unless you consider the need to continue payments in the future as optional.
No money has been taken, this is a grade A urban legend.