Sunday, January 16, 2005
Embezzling Social Security's Trust Fund
When a trustee uses a trust's assets on the trustee's pet projects rather on accomplishing the trust's purposes, that trustee has committed embezzlement. By spending assets needed by Social Security to pay for the Iraq war rather than raising the money via tax increases, George Bush has in effect embezzled the Social Security Trust Fund.
The Social Security "Trust Fund" was intended to be kept separate from the "general fund." (Source: Social Security Agency web site.) Although President Johnson's "unified budget" temporarily included Social Security as part of the Federal budget, Social Security's web site notes:
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The Social Security "Trust Fund" was intended to be kept separate from the "general fund." (Source: Social Security Agency web site.) Although President Johnson's "unified budget" temporarily included Social Security as part of the Federal budget, Social Security's web site notes:
This budget treatment of the Social Security Trust Fund continued until 1990 when the Trust Funds were again taken "off-budget." This means only that they are shown as a separate account in the federal budget. But whether the Trust Funds are "on-budget" or "off-budget" is primarily a question of accounting practices--it has no affect on the actual operations of the Trust Fund itself.Now, Social Security "reformers" claim that we must act because "the General Fund can't afford to repay money owed to Social Security." In other words, Mr. Bush took money he knew belonged to Social Security - spent it on pet projects like Iraq and tax cuts - and now claims that Social Security is broke when in fact it is the General Fund that has the money problems.
Social Security's "Internet myths" web site (Emphasis added)
