Reply #22: it depends on whether you want to count the interest on the debt or not.

[Hannah Bell]

the figures are on the social security website.

here's a graphic:




In 1983, the year of the reagan-greenspan fraud, the trust fund contained:

$26.7 billion in current dollars
$42.1 billion in constant 2000 dollars.
.8% of gdp.

Prior to that, the highest balance in the TF as a percent of GDP had been 5.3% of GDP in the 50's; the highest balance in constant 2000 dollars had been 138 billion in the 70s.

In 2007, the TF contained:

2.011.9 TRILLION dollars in current (2007) dollars
$1.746.2 TRILLION dollars in constant (2000) dollars
$15.2% of GDP.


Tables at link:
http://www.econdataus.com/ssfund.html

So without going back & adding up 24 years of income (collections) to see how much is income from contributions & how much is interest, you can say that the TF contains about

$1.9843 TRILLION in current (2007) dollars collected since 1983
$1.703 TRILLION in constant (2000) dollars collected since 1983

Some of it is interest on the borrowing, however. And some of it is from the taxation of SS benefits that *also* kicked in thanks to reagan-greenspan.

it was a complete scam.

and as is becoming completely clear, it did *nothing* to "save" social security. it just made tax cuts for billionaires go down more palatably.