A former top executive at the Social Security Administration quietly floated an idea to park part of the program's $2.7 trillion trust fund in a short-term Treasury note that would automatically convert into an S&P 500 index basket at maturity, but the proposal never really saw the light of day.
What Happened: Scott Coulter, who served as SSA chief information officer until spring, argued the hybrid debt-equity instrument could buy the program time by earning higher market returns than traditional special-issue bonds, according to an internal summary seen by The Wall Street Journal.
