Who profits from the US national debt?

[selfAdjoint]

The money delegated for Social Security has been placed in government bonds which grow at less than 2% on average

'Scuse me? During most of my lifetime 30 year treasuries have paid in the 7-9% range. They are currently depressed along with all other interest rates, but you can't use a current minimum to compare to a long-time average.

 

[onegermanbeerglass]

7-9% over 30 years, not annually and not compounded.

Meanwhile, with even only 2% inflation annually (which is far lower than average), we reach 10.41% when compounded after only 5 years.

Meanwhile, those treasury bonds are becoming de-valued.

 

[russ_watters]

I was being somewhat flip - I was trying to get some reaction (any reaction) to the social security problem. Yes, any such plan would require a gradual phase-in, likely over the course of a generation. Rough guess, but any phase-out would make the budget worse-off for a decade, but after that, far, far better off.

 

[onegermanbeerglass]

Refer to the great plan for fixing some of those budget problems. I'll be posting some info I've found to support that.