Dragging Social Security into the $15 trillion budget battle is a red herring. Social Security has been subsidizing the General Fund since 1935. Budget adjustments are designed to ease the cash flow requirements of IOUs owed from the General Fund in order to fund additional tax cuts for the wealthy. The working class has loaned their surplus taxes paid into SS to the government and the government should not treat them as 2nd class creditors or short change their benefit programs due to employment trends which will reverse over time. It is time to cash out Social Security and the other government pension funds and separate them from the General Fund under a new governing authority. The $4 trillion in IOUs owed the funds could provide the reserves for a public banking system. From this point there are many creative ways to reform the system to enhance cash flows into the funds as opposed to remaining a source of liquidity for tax cuts for the wealthy. If the Federal Reserve is going to loan trillions of dollars using toxic crap as collateral, then the IOUs owed the nation's trust funds should be a welcome addition to their balance sheet.