Bush claims there
is no Social Security Trust Fund. (hat tip to
TPM)
Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund -- in other words, there's a pile of money being accumulated. That's just simply not true. The money -- payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent. They're spent on benefits and they're spent on government programs. There is no trust. We're on the ultimate pay-as-you-go system -- what goes in comes out.
Odd. The money deducted from my paycheck was very real. The money deducted from your paychecks was very real. We've been paying this since 1983. The money shifted from the Trust Fund to the general budget was very real. Now that it's close to the time OUR money has to be repaid, "there is no trust"? Excuse me?
Try that line with a bank when your payment is due. HA!
Right now there's $1.8 trillion dollars in the Trust in Treasury notes. By 2018, it's estimated to be worth $5 trillion. If Bush stops taking our money (let's not call it borrowing anymore) there will be $3.2 trillion in 2018. The treasury notes wouldn't need to be cashed in for a while after that.
Bush says we should
"...treat people with respect and give them justice when they need it, and at the same time, hold people to account when they need to be held to account..."
Yo, George, you're up!
Otherwise, we're going to have to start calling this
The Great Trust Fund Robbery.
Remember, in 2000, Bush laughed at Al Gore's idea of the Social Security Lockbox. This is what Gore was talking about.