The "half-a-trillion to two-trillion", as John Snow recently referred to it(that's one hell of an approximation!!!) that will be borrowed is to pay back the "surplus"(roughly $1.5Trillion), which doesn't exist! Bush 41 started the trend of spending it and replacing it with "special issue" treasury notes, which are worthless!
This is explained in the CBO’s annual report on the “Budget of the United States” annually, in some form or another. (2000 Report):
These balances are available to finance future benefit payments and other trust fund expenditures--but only in a bookkeeping sense. These funds are not set up to be pension funds, like the funds of private pension plans. They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures. From an economic standpoint, the Government is able to prefund benefits only by increasing saving and investment in the economy as a whole. (2003 Report):
The Government’s responsibilities to make future payments for social insurance and certain other programs are not shown as liabilities according to Federal accounting standards; however, they are measured in other contexts.On October 9, 1990, Senator Moynihan said this in a speech on the Senate floor,
and the moderator asked Senator Heinz if he agreed with the characterization of what was going on as “thievery.” With great candor he said, “Certainly not. It is not thievery. It is embezzlement.” Congressional Record: January 9, 1990-Senator Moynihan
http://thomas.loc.gov Senator Harry Reid of Nevada then made the following statement on the Senate floor,
“I think that is a very good illustration of what I was talking about, embezzlement, thievery. Because that, Mr. President, is what we are talking about here. During the period of growth we have had during the past 10 years, the growth has been from two sources: One, a large credit card with no limits on it, and, two, we have been stealing money from the Social Security recipients of this country. Congressional Record: January 9, 1990-Senator Heinz
http://thomas.loc.gov On October 13, 1989, Senator Fritz Hollings of South Carolina, in a speech on the Senate floor, expressed his outrage at the fraudulent practices that had been taking place. He said, “Of course, the most reprehensible fraud in this great jambalaya of frauds is the systematic and total ransacking of the Social Security trust fund in order to mask the true size of the deficit. As we all know, the Social Security payroll tax has become a money machine for the U.S. Treasury, generating fantastic revenue surpluses in excess of the costs of the Social Security program.” (Still quoting Sen. Hollings)
Any way you slice it, it is a lousy public policy to borrow massively from the Social Security trust fund with no credible plan for reimbursement. Of course, the immediate damage from this approach is that it allows us to mask the true scale of the Federal budget deficit, thus making it easier for us politicians to sit on our hands. This is a gross breach of faith with the American people. Congressional Record: October 13, 1989-Senator Hollings
http://thomas.loc.gov I further explain it in my blog:
http://ignorantusa.tripod.com/socialsecurity/And more so on my website:
http://ignorantusa.tripod.com/id19.html
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