The high cost of ignorance

• Social Security
• Taxes
• Medicare
• Social safety net spending
• Immigrants and immigration
• Congress
• Health insurance
• Economy, inflation, tariffs, etc
• Federal spending, deficits and debt
• Foreign aid
• International relations, treaties and alliances
• The Constitution, civics, branches of government

All of this subject ignorance wouldn’t matter except people make decisions that harm themselves and support or promote policies that are not in anyone’s best interest.

Here is an example of fake information:

The Social Security (SS) trust funds are already redeeming Treasury bonds.

Here’s how it works:

1. Social Security now pays out more than it collects

Payroll tax income is no longer enough to cover all benefits, so the program must use its reserves. Those reserves are invested entirely in special U.S. Treasury securities (bonds). 

To cover the shortfall:

• Social Security redeems (cashes in) some of those Treasury bonds
• The U.S. Treasury then provides the cash needed to pay benefits.

2. This process started several years ago

For the retirement program (OASI):

• Since about 2021, total benefits paid have been greater than payroll tax income.
• The difference has been covered by redeeming trust-fund bonds plus interest earnings.

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In 2024, the Social Security Trust Funds collected $69.1 billion in interest from U.S. Treasury bonds held by the Trust.

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