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The Seniors Center has a petition to "save Social Security". (https://theseniors.center/sign-our-petition/)
"Mr. President, the citzens[sic] of America invested in the Social Security system because of the contract established between the government and the people. [No! Social Security is a Trust Fund independent of the government. People pay into it as a required old age pension insurance program, which pays back as an annuity when their age is reached, except the fund payments stop on death and there is no lump sum cash value.]
Sadly, over $2.7 trillion dollars has been "borrowed" from the Trust Fund and replaced with worthless IOUs.1 This is a violation of the contract with the people and must come to an immediate stop.2
By signing my name below, I am requesting that you issue the following Executive Orders to protect and save the Social Security system that millions of Americans depend on. Social Security is not a handout. Folks deposited money into the Trust Fund and have earned every penny of their benefits: [No. SS is a hybrid between a pension plan and a term insurance plan. you pay in when you work, and collect if you live long enough to retire. The plan is paid for by the lowest paid workers.]
(1) Social Security taxes must be deposited in the Social Security Trust Fund account: [This is ALREADY the law and what is done] Direct the U.S. Treasury to deposit all Social Security taxes into the Social Security Trust Fund account.[This is current and immediate] Currently, Social Security taxes are spent immediately and an IOU is placed in the Trust Fund.1 Once this Executive Order is signed, real money will be in the Social Security Trust Fund.
(2) Social Security taxes can only be spent on Social Security: [Already the law!] Once the Social Security taxes are directed to the Social Security Trust Fund, the funds in the Trust Fund can only be spent on Social Security benefits.
[The SS Bonds ARE 'money in the bank' in the SSTF.]
The federal government does not raid the Social Security trust fund nor does it technically "borrow" from the Social security trust fund. The Social Security trust fund must invest its Surplus. It cannot invest in commercial markets, because commercial markets are not safe. The only investment that is really safe is federal securities. The Social Security is in charge of investing the Social Security Trust Fund surplus. It invests in the only safe investment available, US treasury notes. These are special bonds that only Social Security can buy. To say that the government raids or borrows from the Social Security Trust Fund is a propaganda technique designed to evoke the idea that somehow Social Security is losing. It is not losing. Social Security bonds pay interest to the Social Security trust fund. The government cannot choose when to buy or sell Social Security bonds. Only the Social Security Trust Fund is in charge of managing its Surplus, that is, when to buy or sell these special US treasury bonds. When the senior center characterizes this transaction as a "raid", it is trying to make the public think that the government is stealing from the Social Security trust fund. Even when it characterizes the transaction as borrowing, it's implying that the that the government is taking the money without cost. This is completely false. These bonds pay interest to the Social Security trust fund when the bonds are cashed. The government has no say in when SSTF bonds are sold or bought. That is purely an administrative function of the Social Security trust fund itself. Because of this negative rhetoric by the senior center, it is clear that the Senior Center is trying to create a negative semantics reaction to the Social Security system. It is conservative propaganda against Social Security. So the senior center is not in the business of preserving Social Security. Don't be taken in by this scam.