By law, the only thing the SS administrators can invest the SS fund in are U.S. treasuries. I wish they could invest in a large array of asset classes like I do my retirement portfolio, but they can't. So, I guess having the SS fund investing in U.S. treasuries is better than just a plain savings account.
By buying U.S. treasuries, that's how the SS administrators "hand over surplus money to Congress". Thus, it's not like Congress is directly raiding the SS fund. It's more like, in the early years of the SS fund investing in treasuries, Congresscritters used to market their extra spending by saying, "It helps the SS fund, doncha known, because the SS fund is the largest owner of US treasury debt, so if the Government doesn't have tons of debt through spending then the SS fund has nothing to invest in and blah blah blah blah".
By the way, over recent years I believe the Federal Reserve has surpassed the SS fund as being the largest owner of U.S. treasuries (largest owner of U.S. debt). I know we talk about China a lot, but they're the largest foreign owner of U.S. debt.
If I'm right, then it's a stretch to describe it as Congress raiding the SS fund. It'd be more accurate to describe it as Congress should keep spending so darn much. Also, they should let us have our SS account balances with some interest and let us save and invest that money as each of us darn well wants to.
There is no money in US Treasury bonds. That is merely a promise by the government to collect money from future taxpayers to cover these bonds. Nothing more. An individual participant in the Social Security system has no “Social Security account balance”.
Thank you for that. You’re apparently more in tune with the nitty gritty of the investment of SS funds than I am...I DO know that it could be changed if Congress would do their jobs for the American people and change it. Letting us use our own contributions for investment makes more sense than anything the government comes up with. I guess THEY are looking out for us as we’re not smart enough to take care of ourselves - besides we might spend too much money buying lottery tickets - can’t have that!