Here’s a poor, unsuccessful letter I submitted to the editor of The Washington Post:

The Post’s economic reporters need to convey to readers that the Medicare and Social Security “trust funds” contain zero funds [“Medicare Funds to Last 12 Years Longer than Earlier Forecast, Report Says,” August 6].

This is not up for dispute. When those programs’ revenues exceed outlays, Congress puts the excess in general revenues and spends it. Congress marks the event by leaving an IOU to itself in these “trust funds.” Those IOUs are not “funds,” any more than an IOU that you write to yourself is money. These so-called “trust funds” therefore have no bearing on the (in)solvency of Medicare and Social Security.

Yet every year, the trustees for these programs claim that they do, making the Medicare and Social Security trustees reports an annual, ritualized lie that the U.S. government broadcasts to the American people.

Properly educating reporters, editors, and politicians about the Medicare and Social Security “trust funds” is a decades-long project.