[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]
SK: Yup, agree on solvency versus IOUs being two separate issues. My point on the IOUs was simply that the government has been dipping into the SS trust fund for years and not “repaying” the money (quotes used to denote that the amounts represent an “intracompany payable” in accounting parlance.)
[/quote]
Last time. The government has had no choice but to “dip into” the SS Trust Fund. The only legal investment the trust fund can make is in special issue US debt. Even if there was no other federal debt, the fund would still have to buy those bonds, the treasury would still have to sell them (essentially borrowing the funds). The debts have never been repaid before last year because the current year collections have always exceeded current year benefits. As a practical matter they couldn’t be repaid.
