The Social Security Trust Fund has not been 'looted'.

[customerserviceguy]

32. Yes, and the refinance boom kept going and going, too

Until one day, enough people realized that a two-bedroom condo with a view of nothing maybe really ISN'T worth $420,000. Yes, I'm talking about the unit right next door to mine, which sold for that at the peak of the boom.

I was a title insurance examiner before the housing bubble burst. Each new lender kept lending more and more on the same housing stock, each time refinancing not only the old mortgage, but the borrower's accumulated credit card debt, as well. Each one thought that they wouldn't get stuck holding the bag. Then they figured out how to make fairy-dust securities out of those mortgages, and bet against them with other looney-tunes financial instruments. That made sure the banks could unload the risks of pumping up the bubble on to other investors.

What's the bubble-popper for Social Security? The sheer numbers of people in the baby boom hitting retirement age. It started during the Great Recession, and whether we get out of that recession or not, they'll keep on coming for another sixteen years. And when we hit that point, most of them will still be alive, trying to collect from a shrinking pool of promises.

It was tax raises on the baby boomers that kept Social Security afloat when it went from 1:16 to the current ratio. Both the rates and the wage bases rose dramatically for that group as they hit their most productive years. Now, it's their turn for payback, and we have a shrunken work force, making lower wages to pay for it all.

And I find the phrases "right wing meme" or "Republican talking points" to be a poor substitute for an actual refutation of a person's argument.