Word: trust
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...benefits. So suppose the government balances the non-Social Security budget. What happens to the Social Security surplus? By law, it is invested in special government bonds. (Even if there is no deficit, the government still must issue bonds to replace ones that mature.) So the Social Security trust fund will add $150 billion to its collection of government bonds, and the government will sell $150 billion less to the public...
...what if the government spends more than it takes in, apart from Social Security? Deplorable, to be sure. But what happens? The Social Security trust fund still acquires $150 billion in government bonds. If, say, there is a $50 billion non-Social Security deficit, government borrowing from the public will be $50 billion higher than if the budget was balanced--but $100 billion less than if there weren't a $150 billion Social Security surplus. The government owes somebody an extra $50 billion, but the situation of the Social Security trust fund is exactly the same in either case...
Maybe you're thinking, Yes, but this wouldn't be true if the trust fund could be invested in private securities, as many experts and securities dealers have suggested. Well, you're wrong. Even if the government ran a $150 billion non-Social Security deficit, the trust fund would still have $150 billion to invest. Every dollar the trust fund invests in private-capital markets is an extra dollar the government must turn around and borrow from these same markets, and the non-Social Security deficit has no effect on this melancholy equation...
...into your 401(k) account to pay current expenses, it will leave you less money to retire on. Why isn't the same true of the Social Security trust fund? First, because as a legal matter, Social Security payments are a government obligation completely unconnected to the size or existence of the trust fund. Congress may amend future benefits, and the size of the trust fund might influence its decision whether to do so. But neither the trust fund's size nor what the money is invested in is affected in any way by the government's non-Social Security...
...most distressing and serious result of this string of burglaries was mentioned in the Crimson article: students "are becoming suspicious of their fellow students." If we want to have a true learning community, we need to be sure that we can trust one another. While I cannot possibly imagine that students have been committing these crimes, it is essential that no one have such suspicions, as they can lead to a breakdown of the unique community we have in Harvard dorms. The only way that we can be certain that such suspicions do not exist is to be certain that...