The non-relationship of Social Security to the national debt is often quoted, but infrequently explained. So here's the nickel tour.
Let's simplify and scale the numbers down a bit to make them easier to relate to. We begin with:
National public debt: $13,500
National debt to the Social Security Trust Fund: $2,500
Adding them together, the total national debt: $16,000
Now let's say that right this minute, before any taxes come in or other government spending goes out, the Social Security Trust Fund has to send a beneficiary $500. What happens?
- The SS Trust Fund asks the government for $500 of the $2,500 it's owed.
- The government doesn't have $500 in cash, so it borrows $500 on the market (i.e. sells bonds to retirement plans, the Federal Reserve, or whoever) and gives it to the SS Trust Fund.
- The SS Trust Fund sends the $500 to the beneficiary.
Ok, so what's changed here?
- The national public debt has gone up by the $500 the government borrowed, so it's now $14,000.
- The national debt to the SS Trust Fund has gone down by $500, since the government paid off that much by giving the money to the SS Trust Fund. So the national debt to the SS Trust Fund is now $2,000.
- So adding them together, the total national debt is now (drumroll please)... $16,000.
There's no trick here: the government has simply changed who it owes money to, not how much. (Politifact is of course clueless on the matter, looking only at public debt to come to one conclusion, and looking at total debt to come to another).