Excuse me, but there was a sustantial yearly surplus for about two decades beginning in the mid 80s. SS taxes brought in more than was needed to make curren SS payments. But instead of saving the surplus, govt - D and R - used it for general govt programs
Yes, SS funds were *always* used for general purposes as well as SS.
What would you have had them do with the funds? They never invested them in anything real. They just used them to “pay off” government debt.
The best run government retirement system is in Wisconsin. They put the retirement money directly into the stock market, where it earns real dividends from real investments.