You were forced to pay a tax, yes, just like you presumably paid an income tax and any number of other taxes. What this has to do with SS benefits is almost nothing. Point is, there is no “system.” Payroll taxes end up in a big pile with the rest of federal revenue. The gubmint as a whole is broke, obviously, and therefore so is SS.
It is like a Ponzi scheme, but not exactly. They made it sound like you were paying into a system at first. They even called taxes “contributions,” the program “insurance,” and said you had a right to benefits. They’ve since admitted otherwise. When private ponzi schemers admit it’s a scheme they go to jail. When gubmint does so, it stops being a scheme and becomes simple theft.
have you ever had a job?
You really sound quite daft.