gamb00ler

You do realize that this is very similar to how US banks function, no? Customer balances are just numbers in a balance sheet backuped up by a much smaller float as mandated by the US Federal Reserve. By monkeying with the percentage of reserve the banks MUST maintain the Federal Reserve has the ability to create 'money' out of thin air.

From Thailand? LOL you're rapidly losing credibility.

You typically back up your position with analysis. Why not in this case?

what do you consider the gist I'm missing? What exactly is the impact on SSA, taxpayers, benefit recipients from that gist?

Essentially SSA is a completely separate entity from the US Federal government. The US budget does not include any income or expenditure to/from SSA. The SSA determines the benefit levels.... not the US government. The SSA is however restricted in its investment choices by the Bills that created it. It is forced to lend its excess funds to the Treasury. SSA receives no special benefits considerations from the Treasury. In rare circumstances the Treasury has made the SSA Trust funds whole when a Congressional stimulus bill temporarily reduces the FICA rates paid by employees. There have been some other adjustments involving the armed forces but those are infrequent and do not have significant impact on SSA trust funds.

@JimGant @TedG, you guys really need to break this SSA <-> Treasury thing down to its components and remove the emotion from your analysis. If SSA was a private company selling inflation adjusted annuities via monthly premiums to a group of US customers and it invested the accumulating capital in Treasury bills/bonds.... what would you say about that practice? What would be the impact on US taxpayers?

For heaven's sake --- you want SS trust funds in cash??? that's the craziest notion ever from you.

that's funny..... most investors choose Treasury bills because of the safety of that investment.... it's not an accounting 'trick' as you claim. It is a lending:borrowing relationship that is not substantively different from the relationship between savvy investors and US Treasury. The main difference is that the Treasury is continually making benefit payments on behalf of SSA, which are continually reducing the balance owed. In effect the Treasury performs a cash management function for the SSA.

I never posted anything that disagrees with your above statement. I do however completely disagree with your notion that because the SS lends funds to the Treasury that the taxpayers are paying extra.

I never said anything that disagrees with your take. I believe that the SS trust funds were mandated from the beginning to ONLY invest in Treasury bills. I don't think that practice began in 2010.

Real money is still arriving in my account. The IOU's are rapidly being replaced with REAL SS benefits. The OASI trust fund peaked in 2021 at 2.71 trillion.

Why? He's just a younger and more handsome poster boy with very little education and experience. Of course the geriatric GOP deniers will be fawning over him.

Anyone with a smidgen of training in science would never make the claim Martz made by comparing only two dates from different years. He made a mistake that only an absolute beginner would make. He needs a least a decade of experience before his opinion has much value. It is hard to believe that this type of mistake is simply a one off lapse.

The deep science bench......is a lot deeeeeeeper than every nutjob hoped for.

blah blah blah long list of biased viewpoints. Your opinion of the proper approval rating for Trump is a light year off target.. simple explanation that you will eventually come to terms with... or not! LOL

Once again your biased 'source' has only shown the trust funds income from FICA taxes while ignoring the interest income earned on the Treasury bonds it has been holding. Take this spreadsheet to the bank and explain to them that they shouldn't count the interest they earn on the money you borrowed. I think they'll hold the same opinion as most that not counting interest is idiotic. You keep insisting that the SS trust fund investing in Treasury bills is not legitimate.

Not explained and not from the original source so not reliable.... They've managed to fool you but that seems to be very easy. Also why would the CBO refer to that page as 'projections'?.... very suspect source of data. Another link shooting down your obsession with SS trust fund shortfalls: https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/understanding-the-social-security-trust-funds-0 I suspect you'll bin that link so here's a salient quote: Few budgetary concepts generate as much unintended confusion and deliberate misinformation as the Social Security trust funds. The trust funds are invested in Treasury securities that are just as sound as all other U.S. government securities, held by investors around the globe and regarded as being among the world’s safest investments. Starting in 2021, Social Security began drawing down trust fund reserves to help pay for benefits. Although Social Security has a long-term financial shortfall that must be closed, the program’s combined trust funds will not be depleted until around 2035, which gives policymakers time to develop a carefully crafted financing plan.

I'll wager that you're the most confused poster between you and I, especially in reading comprehension.

I think WISE charges for US customers may be lower than most. US account holders have the option of "pushing" funds to their WISE account for free via ACH. That eliminates one WISE fee. Also several US financial institutions (generally brokers not banks) offer their customers with higher balances some or every SWIFT transfer for free. The spread between buy and sell for US$ at Thai banks is the lowest of all currencies.

so much noise on the internet because humans are too lazy to spend the time to investigate the credentials behind all the misguided idiots with a smartphone and full time access to it. Only real journalists with the contacts, time, training and tools have a shot at finding the few pearls in that fetid sea.

Watch out... he'll have either polonium-20 or novichok on his gloves!

The only answer is that every obligation owed by the Treasury ultimately falls upon the taxpayers. Any obligations to the SS trust funds by the Treasury are identical to obligations to anyone else. And, since the Treasury doesn't borrow any more than it needs... the taxpayer is not paying anything extra just because one of the lenders is the SS trust fund. That seems to be the part you fail to understand.

because that's a lie.... the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 had a shortfall in income from FICA because the Federal government gave taxpayers a mini holiday from paying full fare. The Treasury did make up the shorted FICA income because it was caused by the special recovery stimulus not actually a true shortfall from low FICA collection. The other shortfalls were in 2009, 2012 and 2013 were also due to adjustments to the military's contribution to FICA. You really should read the footnotes to understand the meaning of the simplified summary numbers. Salient footnotes: Includes reimbursements from the General Fund of the Treasury to the OASI Trust Fund for: (1) the cost of noncontributory wage credits for military service before 1957; (2) the cost in 1971-82 of deemed wage credits for military service performed after 1956; (3) the cost of benefits to certain uninsured persons who attained age 72 before 1968; (4) the cost of payroll tax credits provided to employees in 1984 and self-employed persons in 1984-89 by Public Law 98-21; (5) the cost in 2009-13 of excluding certain self-employment earnings from SECA taxes under Public Law 110-246; and (6) payroll tax revenue forgone under the provisions of Public Laws 111-147, 111-312, 112-78, and 112-96. Also includes transfers of a portion of proceeds from repayments of loans authorized under Public Law 116-136.

got a link to GAO's explanation? The last time you provided a link to support your claim it fell apart after cursory examination.

I already explained it fully step by step. I can only explain it for you.... it's up to you to read and understand it. https://aseannow.com/topic/1361981-three-us-ex-presidents-denounce-the-current-one-in-a-two-week-stretch/?do=findComment&comment=19837190 Do you have any questions?