Kent Conrad: “I would say to the Senator, if I could, the situation is even much worse. Why is it much worse? Because the deficits…”

“I would say to the Senator, if I could, the situation is even much worse. Why is it much worse? Because the deficits understate what is happening to the debt. Last year, for example, the deficit went up by something over $300 billion, but the debt went up by $551 billion. Most of the difference is the money they are taking from Social Security. Last year, they took, under the President's plan, $173 billion of Social Security money and used it to pay for other things. It all gets added to the debt, but none of it counts toward the deficit calculation.”