The whole rhetoric of the Social Security Crisis appears to be based on the idea that treasury bonds aren't worth the paper they are written on. My own investement in US bonds is pretty minimal, but I'm a trifle concerned that so many legislators seem to think they are optional.
Of course, assuming that the federal government will actually pay its debt means that although there is no Social Security crisis, there will be a general operating budget crisis, particularly if we continue to run up operating deficits in the intervening years. Perhaps that's what the Hon. Sen. Allard meant by 'raise the funds', that the government would be so badly-run over the next twenty years, having given away the nation's treasure to big corporations based overseas and war profiteers, that we would be unable to pay our tax collectors, much like in Yeltsin's Russia. The sort of warning is usually given by members of the opposition party, but still.

Thanks,
-V.

I’m starting to think they do actually intend to default on the whole debt, at some point. After all, shouldering the burden of the Reagan years is the least future generations can do for the generation that saved them from communism.

My father's been saying for years that the federal gov't is going to declare bankruptcy any day now....

Unrelatedly: hope you feel better soon! And glad it's not MRSA.