Incorrect.
The money had already been spent.
The same entity cannot own a bond and owe the debt for it.
The government had kept double books since F-ingDRs time, something they would put you or I into jail for.
What LBJ started spending was not an asset, it was all valueless ink exactly offset by other in, or rather it was inflating the money supply on the sly. As usual that resulted in savers eating the loss of value.
Is it then a coincidence that when the funny money (even compared to the funny money from nothing it otherwise is) ran out in Reagans time that inflation came down and hasnt been that bad since?
Bump
We can argue over how incorrect I might have been, but I don’t think we disagree that for the last 50 years (if not the last 90) SS has been a pay as you go system. It’s not segregated from general funds in any meaningful way.