The social security trust fund is supposed to earn interest in you can believe the government (http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/fundFAQ.html) but it’s hard to earn interest if the money is used for other government things it was not intended for.
I’ll be lucky if I can collect anywhere near what I’ve paid in because it’s doled out to folks who have never paid a dime into it and it will get worse when the illegal immigrants get their entitlements.
I’d much rather take my 6.2% and what my employer pays and invest it myself along with my 401k etc.
My point was, in order for SS to work what you pay in is what you get and once that runs out your done. If you look it from what you as an individual pay in (6.2%) then you get a 100% return on investment because your employer pays in 6.2%.
Personal opinion is we do away with all social programs, every last one of them. If you want to get ahead in life you work for it.
Well, in this case you can't. That interest is Al Gore "lockbox" talk, LOL. The investments that the fund has are IOUs from the government--promises that they will borrow more money (run a bigger deficit) when they need to in order to make their promised payments. As you said, they spend that money as it comes in. So, the only interest that you earn is a promise that they'll tax everyone harder when the time comes to pay you!