General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]El_Johns
(1,805 posts)Total federal debt, which was about $16.1 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2012, consists of two components: (1) debt held by the public and (2) debt held by government accounts (also known as intragovernmental debt holdings), such as the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.
http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/longterm/debt/debtbasics.html
SS debt is being turned over on a regular basis. It's not just all sitting there until 2019. They cash it in & out pretty routinely.
The above properties of special issue securities are summarized in the following table.
Type of special issue Investment frequency Maturity
Certs of indebtedness Daily Next June 30
Bonds June 30 1 to 15 years
http://www.ssa.gov/oact/progdata/specialissues.html