[djoldman]

Ok, let's chalk the "self-funded" part up to semantics.

> It has literally no impact on the deficit or our ability to pay off debt. By statute.

This however is wrong.

As a simple proof: let's just up social security payments by 3000x... social security is still "self-funded" and "separate" but that would be an untenable debt and the US would immediately default on that obligation. The amount and structure of social security debt matters to the US' ability to pay.

Social security is a promise to pay an amount of money in the future and it is backed by the "full faith and credit" of the US government. The bigger it is, the bigger the debt, the hard it is to pay off. It's a big impact.

Just because it's specifically funded and tied to a precise specific tax does not make it immune from debt considerations.

[watersb]

It says here [0] that the Social Security Trust currently holds about $2.6 trillion is US Federal securities.

https://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/investheld.cgi

Cash money from payroll tax is sitting there collecting interest and being drawn down by Social Security disbursements.

So we pay taxes, that revenue holds a gun to Congress and forces them to buy another aircraft carrier... That's semantics for you.

Sorry. The aircraft carrier thing is bitter sarcasm on my part. But I'm put off by dismissing the funded nature of Social Security as the root cause of the Federal debt.

The root cause is deficit spending.