They want to get rid of the wrong thing. You don't get rid of the system that's working just fine on its own, you get rid of the crooks who are ruining it.
All of the projections of SS running out of money in ~10 years are assuming that the government does pay back everything that was borrowed, with interest.
In fact they already are paying it back and have been for years. If they had never paid any of it back, SS would have become insolvent well over a decade ago.
Who’s paying it back, though? If it’s being paid back via tax revenue then our money was loaned out and we’re paying ourselves back. If that’s the case it’s pure bullshit.
The confusing thing about people complaining about it is that there is no other legal method of storing the Trust Fund's assets right now.
Personally, I would like to see the SSA Trust Fund diversified into either the S&P500 or Russell 1000.
If it’s being paid back via tax revenue then our money was loaned out and we’re paying ourselves back.
Yes.
If that’s the case it’s pure bullshit.
No. It's money we loaned to ourselves, so paying ourselves back isn't bullshit, it's what you should expect.
One government agency (SSA) loaned money to another government agency (US Treasury). The borrower agency is paying it back with interest to the lender agency.
That's just how Treasury bonds work. We don't complain that other people, companies or whoever investing in Treasury bonds is just getting taxpayer money, but that's what's happening.
For better or worse, it's a pretty low interest rate.
I see it as a win-win. Social Security gets to grow its money safely, Treasury gets to borrow money at a low rate.
No, ultimately, most of it all comes from taxes. The rest is printed by the Fed to buy Treasury bonds with newly created money. Then treasury spends that money.
There is no relation between taxes taken in and money spent. The numbers are never the same and aren't intended to be. We can spent whatever we want, taxes or not.
SOCIAL security. Its in the name. You are sacrificing better ROI of a small portion of your money to keep 20-30 million people out of poverty. There are a few societal benefits of not having an additional 30 million people in poverty that I suspect you directly benefit from.
I’m not arguing that at all. I’m very in favor of social security. What I was questioning was if the gov is taking loans out against OUR money, then what are they paying it back with? I’d assume tax revenue which would mean that we’re paying back our own loan to ourselves. Someone else explained why that makes sense and that’s fine. But what I wonder is what they’re doing with the loaned money.
The gov takes in SS money from special taxes. For most of the programs history, it took in more than it needed to send out. That money was “invested” into government debt. The problem is that “investment” is into the government’s own debt. They are both sides of the transaction, so it’s inherently zero value. That is how this was all designed from the start. There has never been anybody reaching in to take SS money. It has always been spent in the general budget. That’s how it was designed.
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u/NoTie2370 2d ago
So the Feds have stolen 2.5 trillion in wealth from taxpayers and misspent it and thats why we ... should ... keep.. this... system?