Richie: If you had bought T-Bills with your Social Security money, would you say that you didn't save it? That's what the SSA did with their excess funds. Accounting tricks made the US Gov't deficits LOOK smaller than they actually were but the SSA surpluses still went into T-Bills - the same ones that investors from all over the world are still clamoring for despite the S&P downgrade.

The government borrowed money from the SSA (and everyone else who bought TBills) to spend more than they took in and the bills from the SSA are coming due.

True, there was no "lock box" for Social Security, to use a phrase that was popular some time ago. Perhaps it was the using of that phrase that finally got people to understand what Social Security's finances were in the first place.