The exact amount in dollars and cents that social security has added to the deficit

[Botany]

[Rex]

1. Yes but that fact doesn't stop some around here

from demanding we 'fix' it, because it won't be around forever donchaknow? I think they've been falling asleep to Foxnews.

[unblock]

2. Unfortunately I don't think that's true anymore.

It was true for decades, but I believe Obama's 2% FICA tax cut was covered by general funds, so i don't think we can make this statement anymore.

What is true is that it has accumulated a large surplus based almost exclusively on its own funding mechanism.

It's also true that it no longer adds to the deficit now that the 2% cut has expired.

[Cal Carpenter]

3. Kick

[Faryn Balyncd]

4. The SS Trust Fund has FINANCED $2.7 trillion of the total ($16.8 trillion) national debt. It is the

...most fiscally responsible of all government programs in the history of or nation. It purchase of Treasury Bonds has allowed the general fund of the Treasury to be financed simultaneous with the slashing of income tax rates for corporations and the 1% to historically low, unsustainable levels.

But those that have been given a windfall (in the form of historically low income tax rates) don't want the Trust Fund to be used to fund the earned benefits of those whose payroll taxes made it all possible.

[avaistheone1]

5. Well said, Faryn!

[myrna minx]

6. That's some fancy commie, radical, ultra leftist math there buddy!

[Jim Lane]

7. Actually, it reduces the deficit.

Some of the better-off seniors pay federal income tax on a portion of their Social Security benefits. Those seniors act as conduits, helping to pass money from the Social Security Administration into the general fund, and thus reducing the deficit.

A more complex factor would be that most of the remaining Social Security benefit payments are spent, in ways that generate taxable income for the person dealing with the beneficiary. For example, suppose a Social Security beneficiary spends part of her benefits to hire a contractor to come by and install an electric sliding chair along the stairway up to the second floor. People concerned about the welfare of seniors can be glad that an octogenarian with bad knees doesn't have a painful struggle just to get up and down the stairs everyday. People more concerned about the deficit can be glad that the contractor had to pay income tax on the money he received from the Social Security beneficiary.