On April 8, there appeared a letter from Carl Beckett questioning whether President Bush, by showing “everyone the three file cabinets of the so-called bankrupt Social Security trust fund of U.S. Treasury bonds,” meant that “the full faith and credit of the U.S. government behind these Treasury bonds is zero?”

Of course not. Treasury bonds are the safest investment in the world. The problem with the trust fund, however, is that our payroll taxes have already paid for those bonds once. They are an IOU to ourselves. What happens in 2007 when it is time to start cashing in those bonds?

As the president showed us, the money taken from our paychecks is long gone. That leaves new or increased taxes to pay for those bonds. So you and I get to pay for the trust fund bonds twice.

But it gets worse.

In 2007, the government will no longer have surplus Social Security payroll taxes to help fund itself, so it is going to have to find another source of revenue or spending cuts to make up the difference. I’m guessing more taxes.

We have paid for the trust fund bonds, we are going to pay for them again, and we are going to pay a third time to make up for the bonds that won’t be going into the trust fund after 2007.

It is a difficult situation, and the president should be commended, not slandered, for bringing it to our attention.

Scott Gardner, Auburn

Copy the Story Link