Letter: Borrowed Social Security surplus money should be paid back with interest

Published: Wednesday, June 13 2012 12:00 a.m. MDT

In this Feb. 11, 2005 file photo, trays of printed social security checks wait to be mailed from the U.S. Treasury's Financial Management services facility in Philadelphia.

Associated Press

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Summary

The problem with Social Security is our government. Elected people have borrowed all the surplus money since the program started.

Every month I receive requests for money from organizations that want to go to Congress to solve problems with Social Security. The problem with it is our government. Elected people have borrowed all the surplus money since the program started.

This surplus should have been invested to create income to sustain the program. In real life, when you borrow money you have the obligation to pay it back with interest. Why do our elected officials feel they have no obligation to pay the borrowed money back to Social Security?

The solution to Social Security is to return the borrowed money with interest and to run the program for the people who invested their wages in it for their retirement.

Harold S. Neslen

Salt Lake City

Popular Comments

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Roland Kayser

Cottonwood Heights, UT

All of the Social Security surplus is invested in U.S. bonds, which pay interest.

5:53 a.m. June 13, 2012
Top comment

Wonder

Provo, UT

Hello! That's exactly what is happening. When the government borrows money from SS, it pays it back with interest. It's amazing what people don't understand.