You will notice that the Social Security Trust Fund (a combination of the "Federal Old Age & Survivors Insurance" and the "Federal Disability Insurance" Trust Funds) has increased to $1,102.621 billion (One Trillion, One Hundred and Three Billion Dollars). That's an increase of roughly $87 billion since the close of the last fiscal year, September 30, 2000, with the rest of the fiscal year still in front of us.

Also, the Medicare Trust Fund (which is a combination of the "Federal Hospital Insurance" and the "Federal Supplemental Medical Insurance" Trust Funds) now stands at a total of $235.5 billion. How many prescription drugs could have been bought with that money?

The Social Security and Medicare accounts are all money contributed through surplus payroll taxes by American workers, plus annual interest in the form of more "special obligation" nonmarketable Treasury bonds simply handed the trust annually, no cash involved.

Every cent in any of these funds is represented by the same type of bonds that are nothing more than promissory notes or demands on future income taxes, UOUs from the government. When workers contribute surplus entitlement money, the government takes that money, spends it elsewhere, then substitutes these promissory notes in debit black hole accounts that they've conveniently labeled as trust funds. Then they have the nerve to call these accounts "saving" for the future.

The portion of the national debt represented by these "Intragovernmental Holdings" now amounts to $2,385.627 billion (Two Trillion, Three Hundred and Eighty Five Billion, Six Hundred and Twenty Seven Million dollars) as of April 30, 2001, with the rest of the fiscal year still to go. That's an increase to the National Debt of $116.753 billion so far. Please note that Social Security alone accounts for 74 percent of this rise in "Intragovernmental" debt while Social Security is 18 percent of the entire national debt.

You might also note that $ 2,149.616 of the $2,385.627 billion total comes from about 15 of the major entitlements, without including any of the American Indian accounts. That leaves only $236 billion spread out amongst the other 138 funds, most of which are government perks. Just set up a trust fund, put some nonmarketable bonds in it, and the taxpayers will pay with real money any time withdrawals are needed. Why don't you try that with your bank?

The trust fund list has dropped from 164 to 153 different accounts with many of the old trusts retired, like the Black Lung Disability Trust or the Barry Goldwater Scholarship Fund, and newer accounts added, such as the "Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act of 1998" fund. You can follow these trust at: http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opddload.htm in the Treasury's Bureau of Public Debt pages.

The list is alphabetical, so you can find any particular trust you might be interested in. Just remember, it's in billions and anything to the right of the decimal point is millions.