Reply #18: Social Security

[sulphurdunn]

is paid from the general fund. There is no SS Trust Fund per se. It's actually debt obligation the Feds owe to the people who pay SS taxes. By raising the retirement age for SS, the government is actually decreasing previously agreed upon expenditures and is in essence reneging on its debt obligations to the American People, something it would never consider doing to any other class of creditor, foreign or domestic.

If you want a simple and permanent solution to the long term solvency of the SS system, the federal deficit, state deficits and all other public revenue shortfalls, simply repeal the Bush tax cuts and apply the FICA tax to all income, from any source and to all corporate pre-tax income. Do that and you've solved not only the SS dilemma but all the nations phony financial problems.