You're right it doesn't make any difference, but your point is irrelevant.
Social security is only as "sound" as the will of future taxpayers to pay the inevitably increased taxes required to keep it going, regardless of whether the money is borrowed, promised, set-aside, appropriated, recommended, etc.
Since its inception, social security benefits have been cut little by little to the point where middle class people must significantly supplement it with their own private investments to avoid poverty in retirement.
So there still may be something called "social security" in 20 or 30 or 50 years, but chances are it will bear little similarity to the program's initial inception or even to the program people think of it as today.
You also argue that the government should borrow money. Why not just tax today for what we spend today? Had we done that, Bush would never have been able to go to war in Iraq, the "trust fund" would not be in danger, etc.
Not to digress, however. The biggest threat to social security is that congress won't have the will to use the limited available tax revenue for the program, and the public won't want the drastically increased taxes.
Obama wisely suggested switching SS over to be a welfare program and funding it from general revenue, but the initial concept was that it's not welfare and so nobody should feel like they are on welfare when they receive their social security check. This is a fairly significant matter.
Social security is only as "sound" as the will of future taxpayers to pay the inevitably increased taxes required to keep it going, regardless of whether the money is borrowed, promised, set-aside, appropriated, recommended, etc.
Since its inception, social security benefits have been cut little by little to the point where middle class people must significantly supplement it with their own private investments to avoid poverty in retirement.
So there still may be something called "social security" in 20 or 30 or 50 years, but chances are it will bear little similarity to the program's initial inception or even to the program people think of it as today.
You also argue that the government should borrow money. Why not just tax today for what we spend today? Had we done that, Bush would never have been able to go to war in Iraq, the "trust fund" would not be in danger, etc.
Not to digress, however. The biggest threat to social security is that congress won't have the will to use the limited available tax revenue for the program, and the public won't want the drastically increased taxes.
Obama wisely suggested switching SS over to be a welfare program and funding it from general revenue, but the initial concept was that it's not welfare and so nobody should feel like they are on welfare when they receive their social security check. This is a fairly significant matter.