The Department of Treasury today published the fourth in a series of six papers about Social Security reform .  The brief, titled "Social Security Reform: Mechanisms for True Pre-Funding," is a good argument against the claim that the trust fund really does exist.  The brief also outlines four options for creating a real trust fund.

1. Give the Social Security surplus back to workers in the form of personal accounts.

2. Assign the surplus at an individual level, but limit investment to government debt.

3. Invest the surplus in private assets.  These assets would be owned by the government, not by individuals.

4. Invest the surplus in marketable federal debt.  As in option 3, the surplus would remain under government control. 

We'll see what the response is to today's issue brief.  At the very least, it should be now be clear to everyone that the surplus does not represent true pre-funding.  This will be important news to all of the senators who voted this year against the DeMint Amendment, which would have protected the Social Security surplus.