A Parable For Our Times

A boy named Bart has a paper route.  He doesn't want to spend his earnings now, but save them for later in life, so he can stop pitching papers some day.  His dad, Homer, offers to hold the income in trust, and puts the money in the same drawer with his spending cash.  It's in an envelope marked "Bart's future." 

But Homer is a bit careless, One day he gets thirsty and notices that the beer fund drawer is empty - except for Bart's envelope.  Homer takes the cash, and slips in an IOU, then goes to Moe's for a few cold ones.  With the passage of time, Bart naively keeps turning the money over to Homer, whose thirst is unquenchable - so the IOU's build up.

Suddenly one day, Homer has a cup of tea and realizes that he has built up quite a debt to Bart, and doesn't know how he'll be able to pay it back, pay the mortgage, and keep drinking, all at the same time.  So he says: "Bart, you are part of my budget problem.  It is unreasonable of you to expect to get all of your money back. In fact, you're a bit of a leach to expect it. I have a problem with finances, and we must all share the pain.  You wanted your money when you were 18.  Now you have to wait until you're 21.  And I'll probably only give you 80 cents on the dollar.

"Meanwhile, keep turning over your earnings.  I'm thirsty." 

This is how Social Security is related to the Federal Treasury, and this is how paying SS benefits affects the Federal budget.  
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