[SampleMan]

At time of passage ss collection was set close to average age of death. There were also a lot more people at the base of the peramid because of larger families. Adding 20 hrs to avg age and cutting family size in half has made ss untenable.

[PeterPrinciple]

To be fair, it is social security insurance, not a retirement plan. It began as an insurance program following some of the principles of life insurance. Where it went wrong was not following the guidelines required of private life insurance. It is interesting that they even had a death benefit.

Again from our view we compare it to a retirement plan, but the original setup was insurance and that was how it was sold and modeled.

[Smokin' Joe]

Well, all those people insisted that tobacco smokers quit, and now look at the mess we’re in. (/s)