Social Security does not add to the national debt. It is even prohibited by law from borrowing money.
Politicians who talk about cutting or changing Social Security to address the debt are lying to you.
Here is how Social Security funding works:
Social Security is funded by payroll taxes. When more money comes in from payroll taxes than benefits that need to be paid out, Social Security is obligated to invest the surplus in Treasuries.
Treasuries are bonds. Governments and corporations issue bonds to generate money. A bond is a loan from the purchaser to the issuer.
A bond has a principal, a maturity date, and an interest rate. The principal is the value of the bond. When you buy a bond, you pay the principal. When the bond reaches its maturity date, the issuer is required to pay the principal back to the holder. The interest rate is the amount the issuer pays to the bondholder.
It is similar to how, when you take out a 30-year mortgage, you agree to a repayment schedule and to pay interest until the loan is repaid.
As Treasuries mature, if Social Security doesn't need that extra money, it rolls them over by buying new Treasuries.
When Social Security needs more money to cover benefits, it cashes out Treasuries.
The federal government has had a deficit for the past 25 years. This means that when it has to meet its obligations, it needs to borrow money.
This is how people claim that Social Security adds to the debt. That is ridiculous.
Companies and countries buy US Treasuries. You and I can buy them. Anyone holding a Treasury when it matures isn't increasing the debt. The government’s unbalanced budget is causing the debt.
Cutting Social Security will do nothing to get the US out of debt, but it would create hardship for millions of Americans.
Social Security currently has a shortfall, primarily because people are living longer and the large Boomer generation is retiring. In 1960, there were 5.1 people paying into Social Security. Today, there are only 2.7. The trust fund from past surpluses is keeping it afloat, but it is running out.
The easiest way to address the shortfall is to remove the tax cap on Social Security. Benefits do not have to be increased to do this. This is exactly what was done for Medicare in 1993. The tax cap was removed, and benefits weren't increased to better fund the program.
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Your daily reminder this should be the biggest scandal in American politics right now but nobody seems to care. Ken Paxton freed a man who raped a boy for 3 years.
He also doesnt have to register as a sex offender.
https://t.co/V9XqCfrZXv
I’m humbled and proud to officially be your Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate to take on Susan Collins and the billionaire class she represents. Together, we will win this seat back for working Mainers.
Thank you, Maine.
This video is infuriating to watch.
Absolutely zero reason for TSA to ask a wheelchair user to stand for this search, and why it was so perplexing to them an arm support might have metal in it… 🤦🏼♀️
And now this young man is enduring over 30+ silent seizures and suffering horrendously for something they should have done with him sitting in his wheelchair.
Vince “Fresh the DJ” Colston should never have been put through this.
There’s also a follow up from Vince’s mother Lisa under this video from the OP.
JD Vance: “If you’re born in this country and your parents were not U.S. citizens then you should be deported.”
Grok: “There is no evidence that Usha Vance’s parents were U.S. citizens when she was born in San Diego in 1986.”
How about this? You can suck a huge D if you think that you are gonna keep me from saying whatever the hell I want. Billie Eilish deserves to be known as a heroine to the next few generations. That’s what she deserves.
@TMSallis@TaroWheel Knock it off. Women here are told that same thing by you freaking men. Blame them for how they dress. Blame them because men can’t control themselves. Stupid fucks.
Breaking News: per the State Bar of Texas, Pedophile, Adam Hoffman, will not have to surrender his law law license due to the unenforceable plea agreement Ken Paxton's Office drafted! This is prosecutorial malpractice!
Charlamagne tha God: “Donald Trump wasn’t responsible for the loss of the game, but he was responsible for the loss of joy the Knicks fans had been feeling. Donald Trump came here yesterday and sucked the joy out of the city”