How much money has Obama taken out of the Social Security Fund?

Answer 1

First, this is a misleading assertion, based on a Republican talking point from Mitt Romney during the 2012 election: he accused President Obama of having "raided" the social security and medicare trust fund. (To be fair, the Obama campaign made similar accusations against Paul Ryan.) The figure of $716 billion was often cited as the amount the president had taken to "pay for a massive expansion of government," as Mr. Romney's adviser Ed Gillespie told the New York Times.

But the non-partisan Center for Economic Policy Research reported that Mr. Gillespie's facts were incorrect. "President Obama did not "raid" the Medicare trust fund... The trust fund holds U.S. government bonds that correspond to the surplus it has accumulated over the years. President Obama did not default on these bonds, which means that he has not pulled any money out of the Medicare system." Further, other economists and newspaper reporters noted that both parties often accuse each other of such shenanigans; but the reality is that no social security money had been borrowed or stolen, no matter which party was in power. CBS/ Moneywatch agreed, noting that neither congress nor the president had raided anything. I enclose a link to the article, about how the social security trust fund money is actually spent, and how nobody "raided" it.

Answer 2

1,000,000