SS was/is nothing more than a tax disguised as a retirement benefit.
If it were truly a retirement benefit only, then the payments would stop once a beneficiary got back what they had paid in plus some interest.
After that point is passed, it’s welfare, pure and simple. And it really should be called such.
A person never gets back what he invested plus interest.
On the flip side, a person who dies young, his estate should receive his investment plus interest. That never happens.