Alka Harriger

Social Security does not add to the national debt. It is even prohibited by law from borrowing money. Politicians who talk about cutting or changing Social Security to address the debt are lying to you. Here is how Social Security funding works: Social Security is funded by payroll taxes. When more money comes in from payroll taxes than benefits that need to be paid out, Social Security is obligated to invest the surplus in Treasuries. Treasuries are bonds. Governments and corporations issue bonds to generate money. A bond is a loan from the purchaser to the issuer. A bond has a principal, a maturity date, and an interest rate. The principal is the value of the bond. When you buy a bond, you pay the principal. When the bond reaches its maturity date, the issuer is required to pay the principal back to the holder. The interest rate is the amount the issuer pays to the bondholder. It is similar to how, when you take out a 30-year mortgage, you agree to a repayment schedule and to pay interest until the loan is repaid. As Treasuries mature, if Social Security doesn't need that extra money, it rolls them over by buying new Treasuries. When Social Security needs more money to cover benefits, it cashes out Treasuries. The federal government has had a deficit for the past 25 years. This means that when it has to meet its obligations, it needs to borrow money. This is how people claim that Social Security adds to the debt. That is ridiculous. Companies and countries buy US Treasuries. You and I can buy them. Anyone holding a Treasury when it matures isn't increasing the debt. The government’s unbalanced budget is causing the debt. Cutting Social Security will do nothing to get the US out of debt, but it would create hardship for millions of Americans. Social Security currently has a shortfall, primarily because people are living longer and the large Boomer generation is retiring. In 1960, there were 5.1 people paying into Social Security. Today, there are only 2.7. The trust fund from past surpluses is keeping it afloat, but it is running out. The easiest way to address the shortfall is to remove the tax cap on Social Security. Benefits do not have to be increased to do this. This is exactly what was done for Medicare in 1993. The tax cap was removed, and benefits weren't increased to better fund the program.

Some facts before the State of the Union: 🔸1.2 million Americans were laid off last year. The unemployment rate increased from 4% to 4.4%. Over 160,000 blue-collar jobs were lost. 🔸Only 181,000 jobs were created for the whole year, compared to over 120,000 jobs created every month in 2024. 🔸Tariffs did nothing to the trade deficit, didn’t make us rich, and didn’t spur manufacturing. 108,000 manufacturing jobs were lost. 🔸Despite the claim of big tax cuts, the average tax refund only increased by $225, but the average household paid $1,000 in tariffs. The middle and working classes are subsidizing tax cuts for corporations and billionaires. 🔸Billionaires increased their wealth by $1.5 trillion. The top 1% now hold more wealth than the entire middle class combined. 🔸Lowest earners saw their real wages decrease, meaning they could afford less than the year before. The middle class struggled to stay afloat as the personal savings rate dropped, 1/3rd of Americans said they had less emergency savings than the year before, credit card debt soared to a record high of over $1.2 trillion, and buy now, pay later loans were increasingly used to buy groceries. 🔸GDP growth shrank from 2.8% in 2024 to 2.2%. The national debt increased by $2.2 trillion. The ICE budget increased $75 billion last year, and the defense budget increased by $150 billion this year, while healthcare and food assistance were cut. Trump has requested a $500 billion increase to the military budget for next year. 🔸Canada and Mexico are negotiating trade deals with China rather than the US, and Europe is increasingly distancing itself from US interests. 🔸Trump has enriched himself by $4 billion while in the White House through bribes and crypto grifts. 🔸And if you voted for Trump because he was going to be the crypto president, crypto is in freefall, with bitcoin down 40% since Trump took office.