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To: Enigma who wrote (26532)	1/20/1999 10:02:00 AM
From: Enigma	Respond to of 116764

Gold quotes - Kitco's nearest futures price seems a bit behind CBS - anyone else notice this? Which, of all do you think is nearest real time? dd

To: Enigma who wrote (26532)	1/20/1999 2:43:00 PM
From: Investor-ex!	Respond to of 116764

DoubleD, Essentially, the Treasury takes incoming surplus Social Security payments (which are only temporarily in surplus), issues more government paper for these excess payments, gives the paper to the Social Security "trust" fund in exchange, adds the additional liability to the national debt ($113 billion last year), and spends the proceeds. In other words, Social Security is running a surplus, a surplus that is NEEDED to fund future retires' benefits. The Treasury appropriates this hard-earned surplus with tax-backed government paper and uses it to offset the deficit on its current operations. This annual deficit does not disappear, as it shows up as growth in the national debt. So, at the very least, instead of these monies accruing in a bank account somewhere at much higher interest rates, they are immediately appropriated and spent, with only the taxing power of the Federal Government to back up the debt issued in return. Meanwhile, this debt is mixed in with the rest of the $5.6 trillion owed, none of which, it is theorized, will ever be repaid to anyone, at least not in constant dollars. I like to think of all the excess Social Security retirement monies collected as being covertly siphoned off to pay part of the annual interest on the ever-growing, compounding national debt. But then, some have alluded to my being a cynic from time to time.