I get into the same argument on these threads. The idea is so pervasive that people "paid into" a system and so someone "owes" them the money back. My questions to them is always "Who owes you this money?" The answer can't be "the government" because the government can't magically generate money. The people who spent the money--our parents and grandparents and prior generations--are dead. We aren't getting anything out of them. So do we borrow more and saddle our kids with debt? Or do we step up to the plate and pay as we go and live within our means?
Just so. Whenever people say that “the Government” owes them money they need to be reminded that the Government does not earn money, only people with private sector jobs and investments do. If anyone is owed money then their debtor must be some other human beings.
Only a frickin' idiot would NOT think seniors paid into a system. Nope, they didn't pay into a fund, a private account but they did pay in, and it was done by force, at the point of a gun. No Seniors I know voted for SS, that was way before their time and no vote was allowed any way. The thing to do is to phase it out, SS and Medicare both, starting at about age 45, raise the retirement age for now and eventually this ponzi scheme will go away.
To say Seniors drawing SS and Medicare today should just forget the thousands of frickin's dollars they paid into the government, against their will BTW, is f***ing insane and totally selfish on your part.
You may think you are right but you are totally wrong.