In his Nov. 3 letter, "Social Security trust fund works like a solvent, viable bank," Dale Coberly criticizes Charles Nelson for not understanding banking. Well, I'm sorry to say that it is Mr. Coberly who doesn't understand banking.

If Social Security is like a bank, then I should be able to borrow money from a bank year after year without paying it back or paying any interest on it, as the government has done from Social Security.

If Mr. Coberly thinks that is the way it works, he should go down to Citizens Bank and try to get a loan. He will find out that they will charge him interest on the loan until he pays it off and will want collateral so that if he defaults; they will get something for their money.

The government has to do neither when they rip off Social Security. His claim that the government "presumably" used the money to make the country stronger and richer is a very large presumption indeed. The fact is that no one knows what they spent it on, but one thing is for sure, you can't get richer by borrowing money unless you spend it on something that will give you a good return. Since the government is trillions of dollars in debt, it seems highly unlikely they did that. It's a matter of Economics 101.

Jay Burreson

Corvallis