by: Jinky Mesias

The Social Security is funded by the payroll tax paid by hardworking American citizens. 6.2% is taken out of their wages and a corresponding 6.2% matching contributions of employers over all comprised the social security contributions. However, contributions stop after the first 90k of income is reached per member.

The ideal Social Security scenario is wherein the contributions are much higher than the amount of benefits to be given. And any excess fund after paying all benefits is placed into a Trust Fund. The Trust Fund increases every time there is a surplus. The purpose of the surplus is to augment any shortages in future benefits. The Trust Fund is then invested in Treasury Bonds since the law requires it. The US Treasury Bonds are considered to be one of the safest investments in America since it is issued by the US Government. These Treasury Bonds are later on cashed if ever there would be a need to suffice shortage in benefits.

The US Government may use the money but should pay for it later. During the year 2003 the administration headed by Pres. Bush has accumulated a deficit of $536 billion in which the $156 billion surplus of Social Security was used. The problem now is that the administration is diverting all issues away from the fund they borrowed and is completely disregarding the whole issue by telling the American people that privatization is the only thing that can save Social Security out of its financial crisis.

It seems that the administration has created an artificial crisis in order to coerce its citizen into believing that privatization is the answer. They are also saying that if not privatize, the Social Security will have to cut on some of the future benefits. This is not a distant possibility especially since there is no separation of funds to spend. The administration treats every fund their fund. And what happens now is that the government takes on the fund, spend it and then forget all about it which is not good since it affects the benefits to be received by social security members.

There ought to be proper allocations of funds meaning that the fund for Social Security Benefits should not be used for war and tax cuts. And if ever, it is used then the administration should be responsible enough in returning the money they have borrowed. Its not theirs in the first place, it's for the American people who have worked hard in order to save on for their future.