No Social Security Checks Threat

Obama: “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out…if
we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply
not be the money in the coffers to do it…this is not just
a matter of Social Security checks. These are veterans
checks, these are folks on disability and their checks.
There are about 70 million checks that go out.”
"The Social Security Trust Fund balances are available
to finance future benefit payments and other Trust Fund
expenditures – but only in a bookkeeping sense.... They
do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn
down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are
claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to
be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public,
or reducing benefits or other expenditures. The existence
of large Trust Fund balances, therefore, does not, by
itself, have any impact on the Government’s ability to
pay benefits." FY 2000 Budget, Analytical Perspectives,
p. 337
This is because for decades Congress has used Trust Fund
money to pay bills. No "funds" exist - only an
obligation by the Federal Government to keep its word.