There would be no Social Security funding problem for at least the next 25 years, if the government had not raided the trust fund. If the trust fund held the $2.5 trillion of surplus Social Security revenue, in the form of real marketable bonds, as it should, it could continue to pay full Social Security benefits until at least 2037.
Some people just assume that, since the Social Security surplus was “borrowed” or “stolen,” during the period when it was not needed to pay Social Security benefits, the government will automatically repay the looted money when it is needed. It is not at all certain that this will happen.
There is much debate today about how solvent Social Security is, but most of the debate is over when the trust fund will run out of money, not about whether or not the trust fund actually holds real assets.
How to fix Social Security is a topic that has been around ever since a demographer realized that the number of workers supporting an individual Social Security recipient was gradually dropping. The options are to cut benefits or raise more revenue.
GAO issued a special publication of answers to key questions about Social Security reform.
