The missing trust fund

The opponents of aid to strangers keep saying there's no money left for Social Security, that it's all been spent, thus essentially denying the solvency of the US and undermining its credit status, since all that money we've saved is supposed to be on loan to ourselves via the US Government and its treasury, payable when SS runs a deficit. Mr. Marshall asks, not for the first time, is it really gone? And what does that mean? And specifically, the architects of the trust fund surplus, what do they have to say, especially Mr. Greenspan, since he can be considered an advisor of the current administration.

So here's our question: Does Alan Greenspan think there's a Trust Fund? Does he believe those bonds are backed up by the full faith and credit of the United States government? Does he think they will and should be paid back? If he doesn't, he's got a hell of a lot of explaining to do since it was under his guidance that we came up with this whole idea.

Or how about Sen. Bob Dole? He was on the Commission too. What does he think? Does he agree? Or the recently-retired House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer (R). He was on it too.

Let's ask all of them ...

In addition, when I read through comments on other blogs and snippets in the media, I have a sense that most people would like to modify SS, that they want to invest in the market, that they want their children to invest in the market, etc. I find this odd. Do they somehow think that SS as it is prevents them from investing? One woman quoted on TPM said she wanted to modify SS so it would be there for her son, and I just thought, why don't you do what all the republicans are telling you to do, get a good job, and invest $10k in a Roth IRA or other available shelter for your kid? In 60 years, according to all the armchair randian pundits out there the "miracle of compound interest" will do the job and your kid can take or leave SS. Why don't you do that? I'll tell you why. Because you want to spend the money now, and you don't want to do the research. And nobody else does it either. And so in 50 years with private accounts, a majority of the population will be broke and you'll have to pay for them anyway, in spite of the fact that you've eviscerated SS, or you could just let them starve on the other side of the wall of your gated communities. Perhaps that's the fantasy that the republicans are actually selling best. A true victory for the Meritocracy, and absolute punishment for the failed.