Social Security and the Debt [View all]

[1-Old-Man]

Like I said, its sunday night, let's chat ....

When you get your paycheck friday evening (yeah, I know it hasn't really worked that way in years) you see on the stub that some amount was taken out for Social Security. So you paid into the system. Let me ask you ... where did that money go?

For some reason we've been given to believe that the money heads for some sort of 'lock box' from which claims are paid. Of course anyone in authority who is asked to explain just where the lock box resides is quick to tell you that there really isn't one, its just a metaphor. They rarely go on to explain beyond that. Well, where the money that is paid in goes is simple, it goes into the general fund to pay the bills of the United States. And what does the Social Security Administration get in return for watching your hard earned funds pass right out the door to fund the operation of Government? They get special Bonds, a sort of interagency IOU. Those bonds, which the Social Security Administration has been accumulating for decades, are the major part of the debt of the United States of America.

Yep, that's right most of the debt, about two-thirds of it, is owed to those of us who participate in the Social Security System. Who is that? Well, everyone who has every paid in, every received a payout, or any dependent of either. Its you and me and the next door neighbor and it is to us that a great deal of the National Debt is owed. We are owed far more of it than any foreign nation, including China, and in a very real sense the greater the National Debt is the richer each and everyone of us is.

So I don't worry so much about the debt, I like it when the richest country on earth owes me money, I only worry about the good management of that country and responsible stewardship of its budget, be it in balance or not.