In the movie “Dumb and Dumber,” a couple of poor
fellows named Lloyd and Harry travel across the
country to return a suitcase full of money to its
rightful owner. The cash never makes it that far,
though. Instead, Lloyd and Harry begin spending
freely and replacing the money with IOU notes that
they can't afford to pay.
And so it is with the Social Security program.
Congress spends the Social Security surplus and writes
an IOU for the “trust fund,” accounting for every cent
along the way. But what happens when we cash in the
IOUs? Where is the government going to get the money
it owes, if not from taxpayers?
Maybe Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Harry Reid know.
They, too, are against Social Security reform, and
they have promised to oppose personal accounts. But
here are two facts we want them to hang on to:
1) 2 out of 3 young people support personal accounts
2) The Social Security program begins taking in less than
it pays in benefits in 2017.
Personal accounts will fix Social Security. It's stupid
to think otherwise.
