Thread: hoax
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Old 03-13-2011, 04:27 AM   #4
scottw
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spence View Post
There's nothing he says that contradicts my previous statements. I've never argued that the US balance sheet is healthy.

As for a hoax, I don't see our previous Administration behaving much differently. Perhaps they were a hoax as well.

-spence
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[QUOTE=spence;837691]Again, you don't seem to know what you're talking about. By law the SS trust must be invested in interest bearing securities.

Quote:
Originally Posted by justplugit
The problem with the Social Security Trust Fund is the government has been borrowing trillions of dollars
from it since 1942 with the borrowing sky rocketingfrom the 70's on.


Quote:
Originally Posted by spence View Post
Not sure that's really accurate. There's a lot of money in the trust on paper, but it's invested in the US and shows up as debt.



The problem isn't as much SS as it is overall fiscal health.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by spence View Post
I think it's mostly about increasing costs and demographic changes. Also, as the funds excess shrinks they can't benefit from interest income.

SS can be fixed, it's Medicare that's the biggest problem.

-spence
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"There's a lot of money in the trust on worthless paper"...your claims are directly contradicted by the article......

" The OMB explained that these trust-fund “balances” are nothing more than a “bookkeeping” device. “They do not consist of real economic assets (NOT-"but it's invested in the US and shows up as debt -Spence") that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits.”

Special they are: They are worthless. As the OMB explained, they are nothing more than “claims on the Treasury [i.e., promises] that, when redeemed [when you retire and are awaiting your check], will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures.” That’s what it means to have a so-called trust fund with no “real economic assets".

Bottom line? The OMB again: “The existence of large trust fund balances, therefore, does not, by itself, have any impact on the government’s ability to pay benefits.” No impact: The lockbox, the balances, the little pieces of paper, amount to nothing.

Last edited by scottw; 03-13-2011 at 05:33 AM..
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