The US govt used to collect more FICA taxes than was paid out to Social Security and Medicare. It was huge amounts of $$$ for decades. Hundreds of billions of dollars. Over time, it added up to near $3 trillion. What did Congress do with that $3 trillion? They spent it every year, and they ordered the US Treasury to stuff the Social Security and Medicare trust funds with US govt bonds. The money was spent. It was not invested. The money is gone. A few years ago, with aging population, the amount the US govt spends on Social Security and Medicare began to exceed the annual FICA taxes collected. So how does the govt makeup for that shortfall? The govt cashes in the US govt bonds to pay retirees. In reality, those bonds just get converted from being owned by the trust fund to being owned by the public investors. But each year the amount of US govt bonds owned by the trust fund declines. It has fallen from the peak of $3 trillion to about $2.5 trillion now. In 6 more years all of that $2.5 trillion will have been completely cashed in and added to the regular national debt. What happens then? Under current federal law, Social Security will automatically cut benefits to match what is being collected by FICA taxes. It will be about a 22% cut in benefits for everyone. In reality, Congress will likely pass emergency legislation to keep funding social security at current levels and will just add $500 billion (or more) to the national debt per year. This will just accelerate the debt spiral that our government is in. You probably don't own enough gold.(Wall Street Mav)