You can’t pay what there’s no money for.
The OP’s criticism should be directed to the voters who enabled the activists who enabled the politicians who enabled the federal and state administrators who enabled the fraudsters.
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Which is why there should be a higher rate of interest on barrowing against Social Security. I don’t mind the Government barrowing from Social Security, what I do mind is them saying the don’t have the money to pay it back. I have watched this administration claim they are cutting waste only to spend more on waste. And tell us there is no money for the social contract they devised, taxed us on and yet they claim it’s not there anymore. The problem is not Social Security, the problem is a Government that withholds the money from our paychecks every paycheck and then tells us there is no money to pay us back when we retire because they spent it elsewhere. I have been paying into a system for 37 years, if this money would have been put into something like a 401k I would be retiring wealthy. Instead I am asking where did all the money go? I understand that by design it’s a pyramid scheme where the workers of today are paying for the workers of yesterday, but how is the money gone. Which leads to questioning what has the Federal Government done with all my dollars and why are Billionaires and Corporations skirting their responsibilities. Listen I was 100% a Laissez-faire capitalist all the way till I saw the countries that practiced this were Haiti and Somalia.
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Except their is a cap on Social Security withholdings so the wealthiest who receive social security do not pay into it at the same rate as the poorest. How can a system work if someone who makes a Million Dollars a year only pays into Social Security on their first $184,500 but someone who only makes $35k pays 100% into it? Please make it make sense for me. Why would we tax the the poorest in this country at 100% while we let the richest in this country skirt the tax.
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If you are thinking about it as a personal savings plan, like a 401k, you are already in the wrong mindset. It is not a savings plan. I know you know that, but just want to reiterate it.
Where has the money gone? Well, it was never really there. Money was never meant to accumulate in an account. Current taxes pay for current benefits. While it did run a surplus for many years as the govt tried to prepare for the baby boomers retirement bubble, but that is it.
Costs? People are living far longer, healthcare costs far more, the average worker is making far less and therefore contributing far less. There are only two options - cut benefits or raise taxes. Maybe both, but good luck getting reelected by cutting benefits without raising taxes first.
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Can you document this? Or will it be mathematical gymnastics about how much more spending power a 1960 dollar had.
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Yes, I was earning so much less before I retired than earlier in my career that I was able to retire at 60. Odd how that worked out, eh? 
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Not sure why you are opposed to numbers and math. Is that because they are facts and you don’t like facts?
Yes as a retired engineer I find math escapes me at time, like the average worker makes less except the average household income increased by 1101%. But then again numbers are not my bag.
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Clearly, because you completely missed how the benefits paid went up by 1616% over the same time…. Which is what he’s arguing, wages are dropping, and benefits are being slashed as shown in the gr…… wait… 
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Maybe I should have been more specific. SSI benefts have increased at a faster pace than wages. SSI taxation is based on wages so every year there is less tax money to pay for the increasing SSI payouts. Couple that is more retirees living longer and of course you’re going to have solvency issues. We’re not even getting into the
medicare side of things and healthcare costs…
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I read this and laugh neither side is going to convince the other side they are correct but both sides make good points. Everyone in this chat has been hearing SS is going to run out of money their whole life but never does .Any one who thinks they’re going to change Papa Zed’s mine is dreaming. Just like anyone that thinks they’re going to change Dave17 mind is dreaming also.
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Sounds like we should have worse/less expensive medical to keep the number in check…as opposed to the people alive. Curious…
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We could just start doing like France and only let the elites have AC, then our elderly will die of heat stroke every summer and reduce their burden on social security
Or suggest euthanasia for a bad hip like Canada just recently did…..
I mean hip replacement is expensive!
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So, what you’re saying is that government programs like Social Security and Medicare were either poorly designed, poorly administered, poorly policed, or all three.
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Starting with the Greenspan Commission reforms in 1983, American workers paid more in Social Security taxes than the system paid out in benefits. This generated massive cash surpluses that peaked in the late 2000s.
The Treasury used the cash surplus to pay for general government expenses, roads, wars, and other programs, essentially borrowing the money from the trust fund.
While the government legally borrowed the money and pays interest on those bonds, critics often refer to this as a “raid” because the government now owes the Trust Fund trillions of dollars, which will require future tax increases or major cuts to pay out future benefits.
The amount it pays out currently would not be an issue if it weren’t for fraud, I mean, acquiring the money with no regard for paying it back.
I concluded that from these actions past and present politicians forfeit their social security benefits. Also continue to pay into them from their pensions.
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How many times did we hear from Reagan and Bush et al “This time we’ll borrow the money then it’s a lock box, secure, nothing to worry about.”. It all turned into what you described, a money grab with the politicians that approved it and spent it being long gone before the roof fell in.
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Not sure why you say that, its not what i am saying. These are just facts. Unless you are saying the govt failed to put in place policies to protect wages of low and muddle income people.
American food system is taking care of that already. Saving social security one bloomin onion at a time!
Be careful, watch out for new taxes. Remember the anecdotal story of boiling the frog - slowly - instead of throwing it in a pot of scolding water. Watch out for lots of little new taxes or tax increases as government subsidies get strained.
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