According to the Times, the <$NoAd$> Social Security Trust Fund is a bit of an afterthought.
The US Treasury bonds held in the Trust Fund may be give Social Security a better claim on federal revenues than other priorities. But maybe not.
As Timesman David Rosenbaum puts it …
But trust fund or no trust fund, bonds or no bonds, Social Security is only one program with a claim on the federal budget.
There will be highways to build and, perhaps, wars to fight. There will be expenses for education and health care and many other government activities. And there will be citizens – voters – who do not want their taxes to be raised.
Maybe because of the trust fund, the politicians will decide that Social Security has the strongest claim.
But if so, that will be a political decision, not a legal one.
In other words, it’s all a big misunderstanding.
