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To: Kaslin

He doesn’t have it quite right, and in fact some of it simply wrong.

Any talk about delaying SS checks is indeed a lie, but it is in fact an even bigger lie than he says. The “IOUs, bonds that have absolutely no market value” that SS holds are in fact the very most liquid asset in the world, U.S. Treasury bonds, which by statute would be sold in the open market if necessary.

This was made clear the first time we were treated to this particular performance of kabuki theater back in July 2011.


2 posted on 01/30/2013 5:37:37 AM PST by jiggyboy (Ten percent of poll respondents are either lying or insane)
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To: jiggyboy
You've got it wrong on the type of bonds the SS holds.

Even wikipedia gets it right: "The trust fjunds have been invested primarily in non-marketable Treasury debt"

The government agrees. See http://www.ssa.gov/history/BudgetTreatment.html. The SS trust fund is composed of 'special obligation bonds', nothing else was bought since the 1960s. They are not marketable.

To redeem one of these bonds, SS gets money from the FedGov. If the FedGov can't pay out of cash or current tax receipts, it would need to issue real Treasury Bonds to get the necessary cash. But that path is currently limited by the debt limit.

The bonds might be backed by the full faith and credit of the USA, but there is no such guarantee on the SS payments to the retired or disabled. That, according to the Supreme Court, is dependent on the weasels in washington DC. Their cowardice in bowing to political reality over financial reality is quite dependable.

7 posted on 01/30/2013 8:06:55 AM PST by slowhandluke (It's hard to be cynical enough in this age.)
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To: jiggyboy

The “IOUs, bonds that have absolutely no market value” that SS holds are in fact the very most liquid asset in the world, U.S. Treasury bonds, which by statute would be sold in the open market if necessary.


Your comment on the marketability of SS bonds is contradicted by Wikipedia, SS trust fund:

“When program revenues exceed payments (i.e., the program is in surplus) the extra funds are borrowed and used by the government for other purposes, but a legal obligation to program recipients is created to the extent this occurs. These surpluses add to the Trust Fund. ...The fund is required by law to be invested in non-marketable securities issued and guaranteed by the “full faith and credit” of the federal government.”

Note the adjective: “non-marketable”. Walter Williams was right.


8 posted on 01/30/2013 8:10:14 AM PST by Mack the knife
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