Joel Blau writes: >> Are you less confident that social security will be paid than any other >> government obligation? Unless your point is that social security is mere >> social welfare, and hence readily dispensable, why is government >> borrowing from the trust fund any less an obligatory debt? >>
Social security payments will be paid until the payments become unpopular. Social security is relatively popular now because (1) the taxes are both stable and hidden (the tax is paid by the employer before the wage check is given), (2) the taxes are capped to maintain the argument that benefits are linked to contributions and the the program is not redistributionist, and (3) most people believe they will receive the payments when they get older. If entitlements continue to increase as a share of government budgets, the programs will ultimately have to require signicantly more taxation, and/or become explicitly redistributionist. Furthermore, more and more workers will truly believe they will receive nothing. At a certain point, the program will become sufficiently unpopular and there will be a crisis. Are you seriously asking "why is government borrowing from the trust fund any less an obligatory debt." Let's say the government, in its capacity as the US Treasury, fails to pay a treasury bill held by the government (as a bookkeeping entry), in its capacity as the Social Security Administration. Who exactly is going to sue who? David Shemano _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
