Nobody!
You can still read about one president or another or Congress borrowing or “stealing” from the Social Security Trust.
It’s sad people keep posting such garbage and worse that uninformed people believe it.
The Trust has been funded the same way from the beginning. Excess revenue was used to buy special interest paying treasure bonds.
Government uses the revenue from selling bonds to the Trust anyway it wants. Just like any other Treasury bond sales – to Japan, China or American investors.
There is no longer excess SS revenue to invest, but interest paid – $66 billion a year – on previous bond purchases is vital to paying current benefits.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
You are welcome to pay more in income taxes. I’m glad you can afford it.
However, I suspect that any increase in income taxes will fall on those who are already shouldering the lions share of funding the federal government. Today, the top quintile (20%) of all workers earns 68.8% of all taxable income, but paid 86.6% of all income taxes.
Or, in other words, the lowest paid 80% of workers earns 31.2% of all taxable income, but only pays 13.4% of all income taxes.
I’ve paid more than my “fair” share in income taxes over the last 50+ years, including this year and likely next year as well. Similarly, I’ve paid far, far in excess in taxes compared to the Social Security and Medicare benefits I will ever receive.
Someone else’s turn.
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I wonder if people even want to educate themselves on Social Security; much easier to say “The government stole my money!” and to play the victim and take no responsibility for their own financial situation. When SS began, actuarily most men would not live long enough to collect benefits and there were 30 some workers for each beneficiary. Now life expectancy far exceeds SS eligibility age and there are less than three workers supporting each retiree. I think thats easy to understand 🙂
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In @1935.
“…men who attained age 65 could expect to collect Social Security benefits for almost 13 years (and the numbers are even higher for women).”
Life expectancy now at 65 is about 19 years for men. Much less if you are low income.
Life expectancy at birth (61 in 1935) is much lower because of childhood illnesses and accidental deaths.
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Define “trust”. If I open a trust for my children, and I put IOU’s in it, IOUs that say that they themselves will have to fund the promises themselves and promises made to me, it may not technically meet the definition of “steal” even though the taking is involuntary from taxpayers, current and future, and generations yet unborn, but it surely meets the definition of fraud.
Steal: take (another person’s property) without permission or legal right and without intending to return it
Fraud: wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
What word would you use to describe this scheme where the “assets” are nothing more than IOUs? And, they are IOUs! When we are running $1.5+ Trillion per year in federal deficits for every year since 2009, where we have $34+ Trillion in national debt, and where the CBO projects $2+ Trillion in annual federal deficits for as far as the eye can see or the CBO cares to predict, such that by 2034 when all the trust fund IOUs have been redeemed, we will have a $55+ Trillion national debt …
No. Congress issued IOUs and used those taxes to increase federal budget spending from $2 Trillion (at the turn of the Century) to $7+ Trillion today. They dug a hole and asked the Baby Boomers to pay more taxes (1983 Amendments) to fund vote-buying promises to the Greatest Generation and the Silents. And, similarly, Congress wants to saddle your grandchildren, and their children with new promises to get your vote in 2024.
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And you don’t think issuing of bonds to fund all the actions of Congress would not have occurred had the trust not needed to invest its revenue? Every bond issued by any entity is a form of IOU is it not? What should have been done to secure trust assets with a guaranteed return?
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Social Security has always been a little devious with their language. Trust fund for one and one that used to amuse me greatly was the use of “your contributions” instead of your taxes. As if we had a choice to pay or not. As always, it boils down to the only way we can collect from the Trust fund is to keep the wheels of government running. If Uncle Sam falters we are left holding a worthless IOU. The idea of 66 billion in interest is also just taking from the left hand by the right hand. It’s nothing mysterious, it’s just the way government operates.
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The $35 trillion in debt issued by government are all IOUs and I suspect investors don’t see them as worthless or ever to be. If Uncle Sam falters we have more to worry about than SS.
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It goes without saying that the Federal government is the safest place to deposit funds and that is why they are able to sell treasuries to both foreign and domestic, governments and individuals. No one is concerned about that ending but we have been living on the credit card as of late and it behooves us to run a tighter ship than deficits as far as the eye can see.
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I would be significantly less critical if Congress hadn’t already decided on $55+ Trillion in national debt to coincide with exhaustion of Social Security trust fund reserves.
With respect to investments, would you advise clients who do not have a DB pension or a 401k plan that they should invest 100% of their assets in Treasury Bonds? I didn’t think so.
I can think of all kinds of productive assets in which I would have preferred to invest. With respect to the monies I have saved and control, I don’t have $.02 in Treasury Bonds (except indirectly via a small portion of actively managed mutual fund assets and for transactions).
The government owns a variety of permits, lease rights on public lands, right of way for transportation and pipelines, highways for tolls, real estate, etc. Give me a few trillion and I will pick off all of the most valuable assets already owned by the federal government.
The other option, of course, is to reduce spending, so that we can all be a lot more confident that the government isn’t crowding out private investment.
I can come up with a lot, lot more stuff to invest in – especially until a few years ago at which time the revenue exceeded the payout, and I could depend on a steady supply of every increasing contributions.
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The other option is to increase taxes. We can afford it.
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