Not trying to be political or anything.... but I think the fact check people are a little off on this one...
"When Lew says Social Security is "entirely self-financing," he refers to the
trust funds that have built up assets of more than $2.5 trillion over the years. That’s what the rest of the government has borrowed and spent on other things. Those trust funds and the future interest payments will keep benefits funded at promised levels for years to come, it’s true. But unless the government raises taxes or cuts other spending substantially,
the government will need to borrow more from the public to finance its obligations to the trust funds."
What the treasury has to do is stated in the last sentence... instead of the continued borrowing from the trust fund, they now have to borrow from the public to pay back what they owe to the trust fund... so it is not adding to the total debt of the gvmt...
IOW, if you cash in your treasury bond, the gvmt has to issue another one in order to get the money to pay you.... same thing is happening to the trust fund... they are cashing in their bonds...
Now, with the combined budget that they used before, it does make it look like it is SS that is the problem.... but it was all the other spending that was not paid for that created the problem.... and now the SS fund gets to bail out the rest of the budget...
As mentioned, medicare and medicade are part of the bigger problem....