On lock boxes

For years there has been debate about whether there are virtual "lock boxes" that our Social Security and Medicare taxes apparently are in. You hear that funds for Social Security will run out sometime in the 2030s and for Medicare in a few years from now.

This independent's view is that both concepts are nonsense. We have one big general fund that takes money in and pays it out. Everything else is accounting maneuvers. And now that we are paying out more than we are taking in for both of these programs, we are in trouble.

We are in trouble now, not in 2039.

Our fantasy that the money is set aside now means we can SAY we are spending our built-up savings in these areas, but in actuality we have to cut elsewhere to afford them.