Not exactly. SS taxes that had been collected, in excess of what was needed to pay benefits, were put in the general fund and spent to support Government operations. Treasury issued special T-Bills to the SSA for these excess funds. Essentially IOUs that the SSA can collect on in the future. This is the so-called Trust Fund and has a value of about $2T. These special T-Bills are now being cashed in to pay benefits as the current SS taxes are less than benefits paid. Essentially, the Government goes out and borrows money from world markets to pay off these special T-Bills as Government expenditures exceed Government revenue. This obviously continues to be a less than desirable situation. This will continue until about 2033 when the Trust Fund has been exhausted and SS taxes can only fund about 80% of benefits. This situation can and will most likely be fixed before 2033.
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Originally Posted by JRcorvette
They need to let younger people put their money into a secure group of Mutual funds so that it will grow to a nice retirement amount. Anytime the government controls things it will not turn out well. They have raided the SS fund many times and used it for other pet projects. Eventually it will dry up. We have way too many government give away programs as it is right now.
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