The surplus Social Security contributions were “invested” in U. S. Treasury Notes which is not a real wealth creating investment. The only thing that gives a government bond any value is the power of the government to collect money from future taxpayers to cover that bond.
Yep, it is essentially a “Ponzi scheme”...I think we can all agree on that. My point in regard to your point is that it would be really dumb/fiscally criminal for the SS trustees to “sit” on (”cash under the mattress”) $2 Trillon in Social Security cash w/o earning a penny in interest. FDR/1937 politicians didn’t want the $$ in the stock market or foreign country bonds apparently, so here we are with the “special T-Bills” investment. T-bills issued by the Treasury for FedGov spending are bought by a lot of different people/entities but the buyer of last resort is the Federal Reserve with “printed”/keystroke “QE” money. The “special” SS T-Bills are purchased with “real” fiat payroll dollars from everyone’s paycheck/income.
No more “CR’s”, balance the annual budget then a surplus budget to start widdling down the $37 Trillion is debt, and then start making adjustments/changes to SS/Medicare so they break even annually. (Many ways to try and do that, including making SSDI/SS “if you didn’t pay in, we don’t pay out”...less of a Ponzi).