Over the past decades, Social Security collected more money than it was spending on benefits. Congress has already spent that extra money collected via FICA payrolls taxes. But they gave Social Security IOUs, in the form of "intragovernmental bonds". Right now, the US Treasury is cashing in those IOUs and converting it to additional publicly traded US govt debt. During 2027 it will be about $300 billion. It is not technically part of the budget deficit of $2 trillion. But the reality is that the US govt will have to sell an extra $300 billion to the public markets to fund that $300 billion in IOUs ... because Congress already spend the money many years ago. So the US national debt will be growing hundreds of billions of $$$ per year faster than the actual official budget deficit. This all peaks in 2032 ... that is when all of those govt IOUs are cashed in. THEN Congress will likely be forced to change the law. They will instruct the US Treasury to just use general funds to fund that $600+ billion per year in benefits for Boomers. Otherwise, benefits would have to be cut by 20% or more. So around 2033 we will see the REAL budget deficits explode as the full cost of Social Security deficits is forced into the annual budget, and the IOU fiction disappears. That is when the national debt really starts growing fast at $3 trillion to $4 trillion per year. It's gonna be wild.