I've got good news and bad news.
The promise is to eventually make up the Social Security Trust Fund robberies via the Federal Reserve piggy bank
There is no "money" in those trust funds. That isn't how Treasury bonds work. All contributions (taxes, fees, tariffs, etc.) to the government first go toward the "debt" where they are cancelled. Since all money is a product of debt, there cannot be a situation where our government "has" money, in bonds or otherwise. But, your government appreciates your service.
A bond, even those held by our government, is a "promise to repay" an investment at a future date with some interest accrual. To receive this interest one must give up the liquidity of the money paid for the bond for a specified time. When the bond matures new money is created to facilitate the payment, including the interest.
This was originally meant to defend the gold reserve while still allowing Congress to spend when we did that nonsense. We gave up the gold but kept the nonsense because it is welfare for the already wealthy. The only available excess reserves that are available to purchase bonds are those newly created by Congress spending in deficit, so the truth is that deficit spending "funds" bond purchases, not the other way around.
but what most Americans don’t understand is that the Federal Reserve is a privately-owned enterprise.
Not really. It shares a balance sheet with the Treasury, so any profits it makes, above its allowable overhead costs, also go toward reducing the debt. It is a necessary entity in the private sector, but controlled by the government indirectly, that acts as a clearing bank for Treasury payments and receipts.
When I receive my monthly pittance from Social Security new money is added to the total money supply and the debt, which are the same thing. The only real result of my payments to the program (and Medicare) over my lifetime was the reduction of the debt, a mostly useless tracking number in dual entry accounting at Treasury.
The U.S. government already owes it some $28 trillion. That’s 28 with 12 zeros. I can’t even get my mind around such a big number.
See above concerning shared balance sheets and the nature of the Fed and its "independence". The national debt is the number of US dollars created by Congress and not collected back in taxation. It is the government's payment to us for the real resources and labor it demands/uses.
A "balanced" budget effectively steals those from us by clawing back those payments. It is the product of our past productivity and commerce with our government since our nation's founding, not a mortgage we, or our kids, will ever pay.
Social Security in the USA covers a broad range of assistance besides old-age pensions.
Currently, over eight million Americans receive disability benefits based on past employment or a loss of wage income due to the onset of a severe disability
There are two sides to Social Security, but only the old age pension is covered by the "trust" fund which has no actual money in it. (Ya, I'm thinking the name is an inside joke also). By establishing such a fund instead of simply setting a benefit level and funding it as we go with new currency creation it is possible to claim that the "fund" is in trouble and that drastic measures must be taken to assure its future viability.
These measures always mean benefit cuts to seniors, which also means Wall St gets to "manage/gamble" more of our earnings in 401k type accounts if we are to have any hope of retiring in dignity. The destruction of the ability of our government to provide any economic benefit to the people continues unabated, and will until the people learn how their government works and funds our economy.
If you doubt any of this, just ask yourself why our government reaching its limit for creating new debt would mean stopping payments for a program that is supposed to be "funded" by money placed in trust (Treasury bonds). You can also watch former Treasury Secretary, Allen Greenspan, explain it while under oath to Paul Ryan in 2005. It was plain that it wasn't the answer Ryan was wanting.
