"We fund federal debt with two kinds of instruments, public debt and agency debt. The first is money we borrow to "finance the federal deficit." Then there is agency debt, money mostly from trust funds that accumulate surpluses. "By law, trust fund surpluses must generally be invested in federal securities."
So where does that money go? What are these federal securities?
This is my generation's conundrum. We know that the trust funds are accounting gimmicks. The budget itself puts it this way: "... it does not provide the account with resources other than a legal claim on the U.S. Treasury, which itself obtains real resources by taxation and borrowing; and its current interest does not have to be financed by taxes or other means."
The country is blowing the money now -- promising that future taxpayers will cough up the dough. Yet, at the same time, our generation wants to have faith in the trust funds. We need to believe there is a financial path being prepared for our retirement and health needs as we age (this sounds so much better than the nasty collection notice we are giving to our kids)."
Get the Story:
Mark Trahant: Trust funds not worthy of the name
(The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 2/12)
More Mark Trahant:
Mark Trahant: Sooner or later, America will go
broke (2/6)
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Mark
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Mark Trahant: Cultural changes come, some slowly
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off with correction (1/4)
Mark Trahant:
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Mark Trahant: The really great state of the economy
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Mark Trahant:
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Mark
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(5/2)
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tribal ceremonies (4/25)
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Tax system unfair and complicated (4/18)
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(4/11)
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economy scare me (4/4)
Mark Trahant:
C-SPAN just as important today (3/28)
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(3/21)
Mark Trahant: Academic freedom
for Churchill too? (03/07)
Mark Trahant:
Journalism more interactive than before (2/28)
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(1/31)
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Mark Trahant: Three
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(12/20)
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room for salmon (12/13)
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(11/22)
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Mark Trahant: Bush's answer was
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(06/14)
Mark Trahant: Indian girls team had
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Mark Trahant:
Voice mail filled with views on Iraqi war (05/17)
Mark Trahant: A familiar story of cultural
change (03/22)
Mark Trahant: One
Indian in Senate is wrong number (03/08)
Mark Trahant: Division marked another major war
too (2/23)
Mark Trahant: We're still
fighting the Cold War (01/26)
Trahant: Selling democracy to Indian
Country (11/17)
Trahant: Can't trust
Uncle Sam with Indian money (11/10)
Mark Trahant: Bush needs to note success and
failure (10/20)
Mark Trahant:
Technology and the news world (09/29)
Mark Trahant: Preparing for the unthinkable
(09/22)
Trahant: When tribes succeed,
someone changes rules (09/1)
Mark Trahant: Future taxpayers will cough up dough
Monday, February 13, 2006
Trending in News
1 Tribes rush to respond to new coronavirus emergency created by Trump administration
2 'At this rate the entire tribe will be extinct': Zuni Pueblo sees COVID-19 cases double as first death is confirmed
3 Arne Vainio: 'A great sickness has been visited upon us as human beings'
4 Arne Vainio: Zoongide'iwin is the Ojibwe word for courage
5 Cayuga Nation's division leads to a 'human rights catastrophe'
2 'At this rate the entire tribe will be extinct': Zuni Pueblo sees COVID-19 cases double as first death is confirmed
3 Arne Vainio: 'A great sickness has been visited upon us as human beings'
4 Arne Vainio: Zoongide'iwin is the Ojibwe word for courage
5 Cayuga Nation's division leads to a 'human rights catastrophe'