The bonds were only IOU's, tough to redeem.
Basically the government will have to add to the deficit to fund social security in 2018. Or, raise the retirement age, increase FICA taxes, lower benefits.
OR, Fix it.
" tough to redeem."
Say what? How can govt bonds issued by the govt and redeemed by the govt be tough to redeem. All they do is issue cash for them. Inflationary maybe but certainly not tough.
"add to the deficit to fund"
This is completely wrong. The deficit or debt includes the above mentioned bonds. Redeeming an existing bond actually remove debt from the books lessening the national debt.