Current debt owed to the Social Security Trust Fund is about 2 trillion dollars.This is the debt some say can't be paid over the est. 30 years of the boomers' retirement, & supposedly necessitates changes in Social Security, tax hikes or benefit cuts.You're correct that there is currently about 2 trillion dollars in the trust fund. However, I think that the tax hikes and/or benefit cuts are usually discussed as being needed once all of the debt is paid back and the Social Security Trust Fund is exhausted. The most recent Trustees Report projects that this will happen in 2041. Still, there are a number of people who are starting to complain about the mere prospect of repaying the debt.
In any case, the most recent U.S. Budget projects that the federal debt will skyrocket over the next 70 years. The following graph shows those projections:
The actual numbers and sources are at
http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/pro2009.html and a discussion of various measures of the debt can be found at
http://usbudget.blogspot.com . As can be seen from the above graph, we don't have $3 trillion to spare. We will pay a serious price for this debt in higher interest costs and added strain on the nation's finances. And this is all happening at the exact wrong time, on the cusp of the Boomer retirement.