“Social Security is an earned benefit.”
Can we at least compromise on: “Social Security is an earned WELFARE benefit”?
For some people maybe. My mother's sister died at 55 from lung cancer. My mother's best friend also died at 55 from lung cancer. There are 2 people who paid the SS tax their entire lives without collecting their "welfare" benefit. It isn't welfare if you can't possibly collect it before you die.
SSI is welfare. Many people collect who never paid a single penny into the system. I can't call SS welfare, even if somebody paid in $100,000 and collects $250,000. Also, what does it mean to say people are collecting more than they put in? If that is raw dollars, then it sure as hell isn't welfare.
If you steal my money for SS contributions that I could have otherwise used to invest in the great bull market of 1985-2000, averaging over 10% returns, you have to calculate what the present worth of that annuity contribution would be. You can't act like their is no time-value to the money people have been forced to give to the government for their "retirement" money. So a person who was forced to pay $100,000 to SS over 30 or more years, may very well have a present worth of $200,000 or more. Now take the 20 or more years it takes to draw down that investment.
omebody please do the math on a $100,000 annuity paid in for 30 years and drawn down over 20 years in equal payments, all compounded at 7-8% interest, and let me know the present worth. THAT is the break-even amount that seniors deserve. Not that BS crap about "you collected more than you paid in". Of course you should collect more than you paid in. That is how an investment is supposed to work!!!! If you only withdraw the principal you paid in, then you've been cheated your entire life.