Obama threat reveals there is no Social Security lockbox

Re the debt limit: Barack Obama first promised he wouldn't use "scare tactics" on the elderly--who, God love 'em--really are inclined to be frightened by threats like "government will shut down if debt ceiling isn't raised."

Then about ten days later, seeking to arouse public sentiment against his Republican adversaries in the debt negotiations, this same lying POS said "I can't guarantee that Social Security checks will go out if no agreement is reached."

This prompted Charles Krauthammer to marvel that for decades, the Dems have been telling the people that their retirement was guaranteed because there was this "Social Security trust fund" full of their money. (Remember Gore's phrase that it was all "in a lockbox"?) Problem was, years ago congress authorized the government to borrow money and spend it--which they promptly did.

They did this because it allowed them to hide the true amount of deficit spending, because they counted Social Security taxes as part of the government's total take.

The sneaky bastards have now spent an unaccounted-for $2.6 Trillion that way. Too clever.

So now the trust fund is empty, and SS can only pay checks by using cash from the larger government.

But Dems have never wanted to admit this, because it would lay bare the true nature of the entire scheme, from the outset.

Obama's attempt to scare seniors--and a damn fine threat it was, too--has inadvertently revealed the true nature of the game. Because if, as Dems have always claimed, Social Security taxes were in a lockbox, the cash would be there to pay SS benefits even if the rest of the government was temporarily prevented from borrowing.

But of course, logical inconsistency is never a problem for Democrats. With the help of their media friends, any prior statements that conflict with the current narrative are neatly forgotten.