If we went back to the original intent of Roosevelts SS scheme we’d need to raise the eligibility age to 76 because that is the current average life expectancy for U.S. males. When SS was begun the average male lifespan in the US was 65 therefore statistically SS would never have to pay out more than it took in.
so it was another scam to "tax" us to "death" just like Obamacare
You are absolutely correct. If we had raised the retirement age over the years, means tested and placed worker’s money in true investment accounts, there would be a surplus, employers would no longer have to match employee’s contributions and SS could have sailed along on it’s own. Employees would be making more, the stock market would have soared and employees like Rush Limbaugh, Clinton’s,Al Gore and Bill Gates would never have bitched a bit.
Except that the life expectancy for women is higher than men, and the life expectancy of minorities is usually less than whites. And single people have a lower life expectancy and on average lower incomes than married couples. And lower income people have lower life expectancy than the middle class and wealthy.
So while overall your proposal is theoretically revenue neutral, in practice it exacerbates what is already a wealth transfer from lower income males and minorities to middle class and wealthy white women.
Being married to a white woman and having studiously pursued a career that does not contribute to social security until I achieved financial independence, I’m OK with this. I don’t have any illusions that Social Security will ever be moral or fair, because in the end it’s just theft coupled with a biased welfare program.