Social Security "Lock Box" or Fort Knox

By Brian Costin

Ideally, the “lock box” or Social Security Trust Funds will be funding our nation’s retirement program in the future. In reality the “lock box” holds no assets, it is fundamentally bankrupt. Annual Social Security surplus funds are sent to the general fund, which by itself is over 7.7 trillion dollars in debt. In return congress has given the Social Security Administration an IOU promising to pay them back later when they need money.

The sad news is that since the general fund is already over 7.7 trillion dollars in debt, the taxpayers will have to be taxed a second time to return the 1.688 trillion dollars owed to Social Security. In April, President Bush commented that the trust funds “it is not a pot of money to be drawn on” when he made a visit to the Bureau of Public Debt, and it only consists of IOU’s that the taxpayers would have to repay in the future.      

The good news is that we can put an end to this dreadful practice immediately by requiring that the Social Security Trust Funds be saved in real reserves of precious metals such as gold, silver, and platinum. No risky wall street stocks, just the timeless security of precious metals. The security of Fort Knox held reserves is much greater than the “lock box” promise to tax us twice. Let’s not pass this problem on to our future generations and make our nations retirement savings “as good as gold”.

June 6, 2005