Well, one way to avoid having to invest so much of the money would be to pay retirees directly out of the receipts for a given year. Then you only have to inve

Well, one way to avoid having to invest so much of the money would be to pay retirees directly out of the receipts for a given year. Then you only have to invest the surplus, which shrinks the investment problem considerably. That surplus could be invested in T-bills. The above is roughly how the system works now, makes sense right? Of course, you'll see various peopl with an axe to grind calling it a pyramid scheme for the pass-thru payout. And claim that the government is "raiding" the trust fund by selling it t-bills, or say that the trust fund is backed by quote "worthless IOUs". I didn't know t-bills were so disreputable! But aside from the silly rhetoric, it's a pretty sensible strategy. It shouldn't be a surprise that the people who administer the program 40 hours a week actually kinda know what they're doing. Unless you come to the conversation pre-equipped with ideology and blinders.