All very dishonest.
The SS trust fund is 100% filled with IOUs from Congress.
Seriously: 100%. And the Congress will give any IOUs it needs in the future.’
Honestly, I’ll give you links that explain this though it’s of no interest to me anymore. Because you say you know people that don’t understand. I do want those people to have honest info.
You’ve swallowed the Koch Bros propaganda
Those “IOUs” are government bonds, just like the govt bonds in your IRA or 401k. You would never call the bonds in your own accounts, “worthless IOUs”. But that’s the rhetoric that the Koch brothers came up with to propagandize people against Social Security
In any case, Social Security payouts are calculated by the actuaries at levels tilled to the proceeds from the FICA tax. Wherever those proceeds end up, the amount of those proceeds is what determines how much can be paid to recipients. Trump foolishly is launching election season by reducing the amount of FICA proceeds - without specifying any alternative funding source. You may laugh at my concerns, but this is setting him up for problems with senior voters who rely on Social Security and who will now be subjected to ads about how he’s messing with its funding sources.