Our SS will be cut and there will not even be a whimper of complaint. It has already happened.
I remember family discussions from when I was growing up up, and my grandfather's SS was not taxed at all. I got an SS number in the late 50s, and began paying SS tax from jobs in the 60s. Then things changed in 1983 and a part of SS benefits were taxed. Now that I am old enough to be receiving benefits, after paying in at the maximum rate for over 30 years, 85% of my SS is taxed.
This is nothing but a means test by a different name. If your income is low, you get all of your SS. But, I planned ahead, scrimped, saved and sacrificed (yes we did without vacations, new cars, and entertainment) for 30 years. My marginal tax rate, federal and state combined is almost 50%, so over 40% of the SS I was initially promised is clawed back by the government.
I have never even seen widespread understanding of this takeaway, much less a serious protest. Where was this "hell to pay" you speak of. The government has come like a thief in the night and taken away a big bite of what it offered. But, it was clever, and did not steal it all. Just a part of it, and in a complex manner that most did not understand. It will take even more in exactly the same way, but it will not take it all. The serfs will accept the theft because they will still have something, and the risks of fighting for it all are too great to accept the discomfort of standing against the government.
I agree with every word of that! Half the recipients of those social security checks NOW never contributed to the fund. The government has re-defined SS as a social welfare benefit, which is not earned, not owned and may be modified according to the government’s whims.