ron said... "I made that comment because I had the impression that SS payments would be cut by denying access to the bonds in the SS trust fund.
The SS Trust Fund is fictitious capital not backed by any tangible assets and as such has a potential risk for SS recipients. In addition, quantitative easing has driven interest rates very low so that new bonds put into the SS Trust Fund receive a low rate of interest. " quantitative easing has nothing to do with the interest on government securities held by the SS trust fund. the bonds held by the SS trust fund are essentially high yield checking account balances with the treasury. quantitative easing is the purchase of outstanding long term marketable securities. any price effect is closer to or above face value, that has no effect whatsoever on the face value of non marketable securities. the SS trust fund is still earning about 4 per cent a year. the only risk that social security beneficiaries are taking is political risk. the accounting fiction that is the trust fund has no effect whatsoever on benefits getting paid out. it's whether politicians choose to keep or break their promises to the general public that matters. -- -Nathan Tankus ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
