The whole point of Social security was for everyone working to contribute, knowing that they may or may not live long enough to collect it- the reason it paid off was because many die before being old enough to collect, and that ‘surplus’ goes into the coffer. Most people being willing to contribute for the purpose of taking car of other should they themselves not live long enough to collect- SS is a payment into a system for the elderly, not just into a system for ourselves alone- Some think this is unfair, but many are willing to do their part to take care of elderly and sick and veterans-
a Single person trying to save up enough for retirement won’t have that advantage- They will only be able to collect what they save-
Except it is all a lie. Every dime of taxes that is supposed to go into SS and Medicare is instead immediately spent, and then some. Congress figure out long ago that if they just appropriated enough money to pay for the monthly expenses, then they could call the system “solvent”. It is anything but.
However, their treachery also points out how to turn the fraud into something real and tangible that won’t be stolen by greedy politicians. Because they were right, as long as the money is paid out monthly, the system still *seems* to work.
And importantly, it *doesn’t need* any “new” money into the system, as long as those payments are made. So it can be dismantled, and a real system built to take its place, without hurting any beneficiaries now or in the future.
The *only* player that does get hurt is the government, by being denied “free money to waste”. Something I think we can all live with.
But guaranteed if we leave things the way they are now, the suffering will be terrible.
Right now, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid amount to 43% of federal spending. Primary receipt categories included individual income taxes ($1,395B or 46% of total receipts), and Social Security/Social Insurance taxes ($1,024B or 34%). Add these two together to see what our REAL Income taxes are right now.
It was a damned lie and it must end.