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).
I never suggested the surplus Social Security contributions should not be invested. That is my point. The surplus Social Security contributions were NOT invested in any real wealth creating investments, they were put into U.S. Treasury Notes. Like any other government bond, a treasury note is merely a promise by the government to collect new money from taxpayers. The money was SPENT. Not even the federal government can spend and save the same money. There is no money in the Social Security Trust Fund until the treasury notes are redeemed by collecting money through taxation or federal deficit spending. The $200 billion Social Security financial shortfall over the last five years has been covered with federal deficit spending. In hindsight, participants in the program should have been required to put a portion of their Social Security contributions in real wealth creating investments and own their personal Social Security account.