No one minded too much when these stolen surpluses were minor. They would be replaced when necessary, probably without the public even noticing. But now they've reached serious numbers, $150 billion last year. And are about to reach astronomical proportions, $4.5 trillion by 2012, the original date of the fictitional baby-boomer crisis.

We need trustees that invest entitlement surpluses in anything but bogus Treasury bonds that are nothing more than UOUs and double taxation under the “Pay-It-Again, Sam” plans. Trustees that invest in almost anything outside the Beltway and in assets that work for us, not against us.

We need politicians and bureaucrats willing to admit that “special obligation” nonmarketable non-negotiable nonsense Treasury securities fall into the category of “the safest investment in the world” only because, like legitimate Treasury securities, they are backed and redeemed by all of the present and future taxpayers of the country. The very same people, their children and grandchildren, who paid these surpluses in the first place.

Awarding these bonds in place of entitlement surpluses is double taxation, plain and simple. Putting annual interest on top of the pile, in the same UOU form, makes it more than double taxation.

We need politicians and bureaucrats who admit that real trust funds are already lock-boxes. Fiduciary activities handled by one or more people entrusted with the stewardship of property. Set up correctly, there is absolutely no need for any other form of lock-box.

We need to take the government's play on words and make it a reality.

The government’s own Thrift Savings Account for federal employees already demonstrates this last point. It is the only trust, of 164 trust funds managed by the government, that holds and invests real assets. By itself, it is proof that the same could be done for Social Security and Medicare surpluses, if the government were honest.

Investing entitlement surpluses in anything but, anything except or other than bogus babble bonds would not only make Social Security and Medicare true pension plans—it would be a tremendous boost to the economy. Taking the current $15 billion per month in Social Security, Medicare, gas taxes and other “surplus” entitlements and investing that money in the private sector is not only honest, it’s the quickest “fix” to a sagging or slowing economy.

Setting up real trust funds, whether privatized or managed by an honest government, amounts to investing in ourselves. It’s not the same thing as “personal accounts” for Social Security. Accounts that require employers to report each employee separately. Require unusually heavy paperwork and raising consumer prices all over the place to cover costs of extra reporting, causing real inflation. Only a not-for-profit bureaucracy with time on its hands can handle this without serious costs.

All we need is an honest government. A government that doesn’t lie to us about baby-boomers, off-budget and on-budget accounting, double bookkeeping under a “unified” budget to produce a “balanced” budget, or the need to “fix” a system like Social Security. A system that is generating an annual profit of more than $120 billion this year alone, given people still have jobs.

A supplemental retirement entitlement that produced a $94.4 billion windfall last year, while other entitlements like Medicare and gas taxes for highway repair produced an additional $55.4 billion, for a grand total of $149.8 billion in year 2000 surpluses.

Everyone wants an income tax break. It’s only fair. However, it’s important to understand that the projected $1.6 trillion in such a reduction over the next decade comes solely from predicted income tax surpluses like the $87 billion collected last year. The total “surplus” for fiscal 2000 was $237 billion. Add it up.

Everyone also wants to pay down the national debt. But why should we do it with our health and retirement money? Especially, while Congress and the Administration continue wild spending without any serious tightening of their belt or cutbacks.

The people didn’t run the national debt up to $5.7 trillion, mostly since 1980, in order to run the Russians in the ground economically. The Russians bit the bullet a long time ago. We haven’t. The national debt rose another $18 billion last year, despite what you might hear otherwise.

And we certainly don’t need a continuation of the Clinton legacy of money laundering that moves debt from one credit card to another. A scheme that returns six or seven cents on the dollar by reducing interest payments to the “honest borrowing” side of the national debt. The side where investors loaned the government money for annual interest paid in real cash. Not more bogus babble bonds like those going into the trust fund side of the debt. No cash and no contract involved. Pure theft and double taxation.

It’s time to abandon scare stories and put our money to work for us. Honestly.