I have paid SSI taxes for my whole life.

I have paid SSI taxes for my whole life. I worked for two years slinging burgers for $.85 an hour. I worked in the United States Air Force for four years.  I also held side jobs during this time.  I worked in a meat packing plant for over a year. I worked at a school bus garage all through college and for two years after I started teaching school. I worked In a foundry for four years during my summers. I had my own carpet business for two years.   I paid between 5 to 10 % of my salary to SSI all this time. My employees also paid the same amount to match my contributions. I also paid 1.45% to medicare my whole working life with an employee match. This is my money and it was intended to provide a retirement check to the elderly when they retire.  The money is held in trust by a six member board.

Social Security contributions which are not needed to pay current benefits are invested in government securities which are required by law to have maturity dates with due regard to the needs of the trust funds. The government also pays interest to the trust funds, at a long term rate determined by law. The government uses the invested funds to finance other government spending. The government owes the money which the trust funds have loaned to it and the government will have to repay it as the securities come due. That is until this Congress passed legislation to allow them to default on their obligations. Never heard about that on your local news did you!

Many people think that Social Security tax contributions are held in individual interest bearing accounts earmarked for their retirement needs. Social Security is actually an intergenerational compact, in which the Social Security taxes of today's workers fund benefit payments for today's retirees. It is basically a pay-as-you-go system, but for the last decade, the trust funds have been building large reserves to help finance the retirement of the baby boom generation. By law, Social Security monies are invested in Treasury bonds. Social Security, in effect, loans money to the government, as does any other investor who buys Treasury bonds. And the government has always paid Social Security back with interest.

This debt is listed as part of the national debt.  Congress is trying to sell the American public on the idea that these funds will not be there for you and your children if cuts are not made. The Republicans are a bunch of lying ass holes.  The system is solvent until 2016 and if the Congress pays back the hard earned money they borrowed from the American workers it will be solvent until 2046.  If they really want to save it there are many easy fixes they can use.  The fact is that they have taken my and your hard earned money and are not going to pay it back.

If you are waiting for the media to make this clear to you, you will never see the day.  To pay back these loans they will have to raise taxes on the wealthy and to close tax loopholes.  Never never going to happen.  That is money I paid into the system and I want it paid back.