> The alternative would be to actually balance the federal budget before taking into account entitlement surpluses That's what I meant by a more accurate defin

> The alternative would be to actually balance the federal budget before taking into account entitlement surpluses That's what I meant by a more accurate definition of deficit. You could call it "gross deficit" for instance, just like "gross debt" includes intra-government debt. > It's a huge violation of the idea of a trust fund to invest that trust fund in loans to oneself. Not if you're the most stable investment. I can't envision a future where the US government decides it won't meet its debt obligations but SS and Medicare survive because they were prudently invested elsewhere.