LIKE TARP, IT'S TOO GOOD A DEAL:

In 2017, Just Facts commissioned a professional polling firm to conduct a scientific, nationwide poll of people who vote "every time there is an opportunity" or in "most" elections. While polls typically measure public opinion, this unique poll measured voters' knowledge of public policy issues that affect their lives in tangible ways.

Among the poll's 24 questions was this one: "Do you think Social Security's financial problems stem from politicians looting the program and spending the money on other programs?" In total, 80 percent of voters replied "Yes," including 78 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of Republicans, and 80 percent of third-party voters.

Yet, concrete facts prove the correct answer is "No." In the words of Social Security's trustees, federal law "prohibits expenditures from" the Social Security Trust Fund "for any purpose not related to the payment of benefits or administrative costs" of the program. Hard numbers confirm this to be true. Social Security's actuarial records show that the program's assets have increased or decreased by the difference between its receipts and expenditures in every year since its origin in 1937.

What some call "looting" is actually a legal requirement (established in the original Social Security Act of 1935) that all of the program's surpluses be loaned to the federal government.

What some call "looting" is actually a legal requirement (established in the original Social Security Act of 1935) that all of the program's surpluses be loaned to the federal government. Federal law compels the government to pay back this money with interest, and it has done this throughout the program's history. In fact, since 2010, Social Security has been using interest received from the federal government to cover the shortfall between its expenses and non-interest income.

A common myth is that Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson began using Social Security to finance other government programs in the late 1960s, but as documented by the Social Security Historian's Office, "the financing procedures involving the Social Security program have not changed in any fundamental way since they were established in the original Social Security Act of 1935 and amended in 1939."

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