About that lock-box?
The funds paid into Social Security were supposed to be kept separate from the General Fund but that proved to be too tempting a cookie-jar to the cash strapped socialists in the Capitol.
Well now, what with spiraling government spending, the obvious outcome has happened.
From
The Washington Post:
The debt fallout: How Social Security went �cash negative� earlier than expected
Last year, as a debate over the runaway national debt gathered steam in Washington, Social Security passed a treacherous milestone. It went �cash negative.�
For most of its 75-year history, the program had paid its own way through a dedicated stream of payroll taxes, even generating huge surpluses for the past two decades. But in 2010, under the strain of a recession that caused tax revenue to plummet, the cost of benefits outstripped tax collections for the first time since the early 1980s.
Now, Social Security is sucking money out of the Treasury. This year, it will add a projected $46 billion to the nation�s budget problems, according to projections by system trustees. Replacing cash lost to a one-year payroll tax holiday will require an additional $105 billion. If the payroll tax break is expanded next year, as President Obama has proposed, Social Security will need an extra $267 billion to pay promised benefits.
But while talk about fixing the nation�s finances has grown more urgent, fixing Social Security has largely vanished from the conversation.
I turn 61 in a few days and will probably see most of the money I paid into the system but kids in their 20's and 30's will have a much different retirement scenario.
The current regime is trying to keep the bubble afloat for as long as possible without giving any thought to the debts that will be paid off by future generations.
Posted by DaveH at October 30, 2011 4:32 PM