The SSA begins its report, "This Social Security Statement can help you plan for your financial future." This is untrue. The report can help a person plan for the future only if the SSA can guarantee that it will have the funds required to operate its two trust funds. As that is impossible, the report cannot help much for those yet to retire. What the report needs to state is that members of Congress have been looting the trust funds ever since Lyndon Johnson needed to finance his war in Vietnam as well as his social entitlement programs (the so-called "war on poverty").

Additionally, one of the greatest risks to retirees is inflation. Maybe the SSA can help us plan our financial futures by indicating what kind of nuts and kooks will inhabit the Federal Reserve Board. Clearly, the Federal Reserve Board has abandoned the dollar, one consequence of which is the run up in the price of oil. If the government would do anything for the elderly, it should defend the American dollar and reduce inflation and help the elderly live on their fixed incomes.

The statement goes on to say that "Social Security was never intended to be your only source of income when you retire." I'm a bit skeptical, though I admit I couldn't find concrete data. While that has to be the message today, I think the story a decade or two ago was different. Politicians of all stripes tried to garner the elderly vote by promising to coddle them till death. I remember a lot of elderly folks who thought that the government was going to take care of them; indeed, the government owed it to them.

My statement then indicates that, "In 2017 we will begin paying more in benefits than we collect in taxes." This is approximately when Congress will halt its looting of the Social Security trust funds. It will have to cease and desist because there won't be any funds to steal. Unfortunately, it is by no means clear how the funds will be raised except through the general fund. Either Congress will raise taxes or reduce benefits or both. It really has no other choice. But, how many Americans will accept the reduction of their Social Security benefits; after all, they have been promised this ever since Roosevelt put this monster in motion.

Next the statement asserts that, "Without changes, by 2041 the Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted…" This comment is incorrect. Either the SSA Commissioner Michael J. Astrue is incompetent, or he is afraid to tell the truth. The fund will actually run out of money around 2017.

The balance sheet of the trust funds at December 31, 2007 showed assets of $2,238 billion and shows growth. But, anybody with even a minimal amount of financial understanding can look at those assets and see that the funds are in serious trouble. Virtually all of the assets in the trust funds are special issues of federal government securities. But, they are not securities in any usual sense of the term. They do not provide an equity stake, nor do they lend money in any business sense, as they do not specify when they are paid and they do not stipulate any interest. Even if they were securities, they should be written down to fair value, which is zero.

In plain English, when Congress looted the Social Security funds, it avoided bad press by giving IOUs to the trust funds and calling them securities. What is the value of these receivables? How much should we put into the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts? If economic times were good, maybe Congress could repay these debts and the trust funds collect the money. But, with a budget that spends more and more on interest (a major non-value added cost), supports the war on terror, and attempts to pay off all those entitlements (corporate as well as personal welfare), members of Congress will have great difficulty in finding enough wealth to tax that supplies all their lusts. At that point, approximately in 2017, social security will devolve rapidly.

So, what does social security mean to me? Commissioner Astrue, it means another broken government promise. It is an empty piggy bank brought about by the piggishness of its supposed protectors who have robbed it continuously over the last 40 or so years. This is not the work of Democrats alone or the work of Republicans alone; this is the work of Machiavellian politicians who unfortunately hold the reins of power in this country. It's just another reason I don't trust Washington for anything.

This essay reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily the opinion of The Pennsylvania State University.

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J. EDWARD KETZ is accounting professor at The Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Ketz's teaching and research interests focus on financial accounting, accounting information systems, and accounting ethics. He is the author of Hidden Financial Risk, which explores the causes of recent accounting scandals. He also has edited Accounting Ethics, a four-volume set that explores ethical thought in accounting since the Great Depression and across several countries. He is the co-author of a monograph, Fair Value Measurements: Valuation Principles and Auditing Techniques (with Mark Zyla, Managing Director, Acuitas, Inc.) to be published by BNA.