Budget diagrams - why are Social Security and Medicare ever shown on diagrams of the Federal

[Samantha]

3. Do you know the source of that top chart and what the chart itself is labeled?

But to answer your question, when President Obama gave us a temporary break on the FICA tax, he made the statement the difference would be paid out of the Social Security Trust Fund but paid out of the general ledger. I thought he made that statement to assure the American people he was not trying to make the Fund less stable; he was only trying to give us a break during tough times. Just a guess on my part.

Sam