[XBob]

16 - "Maybe someone could explain in more detail how this "Enron-style accounting" worked. Hopefully they didn't count the money we borrowed as income."

That's exactly what they did.

Except that as the 'negotiable treasury bonds' expired, they borrowed the money from the Social Security surplus, and replaced them with non-negotiable 'IOU's.

[XBob]

50 - In other words, they raided the real Social Security surplus, (supposed to go in a lock box - pay down the debt) and spent it for current excess expenditures.

The Treasury Department keeps track of the total monies currently owed, both in Fed and SSI, and that is where I got the table from - US Treasury, Dept of Public Debt.