This action is a non event. There is no pool of assets to dip into unless this involves the personal retirement accounts. I assume that Little Timmy does not have access to the personal retirement accounts for federal employees. There is no asset pool for the FERS plan (nor CSRS either). Any money put into the FERS fund is immediately spent on other programs. It makes no difference if the money is put into the fund or not. It is simply an accounting gimmick (fraud is more accurate) to dupe the public and give government employees a reason to gripe.
The reporting on government finances is atrocious. Do news organizations have an ounce of financial literacy?
Not exactly.
What they are "borrowing" from is the G fund of the Thrift Savings Plan that covers federal employees under FERS and the military.
The TSP is the equivalent of a 401k that employees have contributed to with a 5% matching by the employer (Fedgov).
The G fund is a close as the TSP comes to having a cash account and is invested in special issue treasury bonds.
This is not the first or the last time that retirement accounts have been raided.
The trouble is, it's not like the Glass Bead Game in this crucial respect: the GBG was totally detached from ordinary life, but the government-budget folderol has to meet real life. The government checks have to yield cash.
“Do news organizations have an ounce of financial literacy?”
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What news organizations? I can’t think of anything that merits that title. If a Monopoly game is high finance then Reuters is a news organization and no, apparently they have no idea what financial literacy even is, let alone possessing any of it.