The Social Security system does have assets in the form of $2.7 trillion in Treasury bonds -- but those assets must be redeemed – cashed in – in order to pay benefits.

“The redemption of those bonds can only occur out of current income,” explained Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad last year. “The general fund has been borrowing from Social Security and we've borrowed well over $2 trillion,” he said. “That money has got to be paid back. How's it going to be paid back? It's going to be paid back by the other general expenditures of the federal government having to be reduced to make way for the payments that we're going to have to make on those bonds.”

The trustees said that to keep the Social Security trust funds solvent over the next 75 years, Congress could take a number of steps:
•increase the payroll tax rate from its current level of 12.4 percent to 15.01 percent;
•reduce benefits by 16.2 percent;
•find alternative sources of revenue;
•adopt some combination of these approaches.


not only heavily indebted to China, but also still dipping into a fund that was not meant to be borrowed from. No politicains have any idea of how to live within a budget. Throw the bums out and let them get a real job.

Other options are Al Gores lock box and removing the income limit. No reason "the rich" can't pay for something they will see little if any benefit from just like they ask from the rest of us.