Quote from QQQBALL:
I believe the bonds in the SS Trust Fund are not USTs... I forget the fancy name for the IOUs, but I believe its something other than Treasuries.
From wikipedia:
"Unlike a typical private pension plan, the Social Security Trust Fund does not hold any marketable assets to secure workers' paid-in contributions. Instead, it holds non-negotiable United States Treasury bonds and U.S. securities backed "by the full faith and credit of the government". The Office of Management and Budget has described the distinction as follows:
These [Trust Fund] balances are available to finance future benefit payments and other Trust Fund expenditures â but only in a bookkeeping sense.... They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures. The existence of large Trust Fund balances, therefore, does not, by itself, have any impact on the Governmentâs ability to pay benefits. (from FY 2000 Budget, Analytical Perspectives, p. 337)
Other public officials have argued that the trust funds do have financial and/or moral value. "If one believes that the trust fund assets are worthless," argued former Representative Bill Archer, then similar reasoning implies that âAmericans who have bought EE savings bonds should go home and burn them because theyâre worthless because the money has already been spent.â[7] At a Senate hearing in July 2001, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was asked whether the trust fund investments are ârealâ or merely an accounting device. He responded, âThe crucial question: Are they ultimate claims on real resources? And the answer is yes.â [8]
So yes, the Trust Fund holds US Treasury bonds "backed by the full faith and credit of [you and me]."
Also note that..." when redeemed, [these bonds] will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures. " Which is the same for all U.S. Treasury bonds whether sold to China or the U.S. Social Security Trust fund.