> They paid a bunch of people that are now dead
No, they didn’t:
https://apnews.com/article/social-security-payments-deceased...
You desperately need to diversify your media diet.
No, they didn’t:
https://apnews.com/article/social-security-payments-deceased...
You desperately need to diversify your media diet.
This is a consequence of the fact that, when the program was instituted, Roosevelt wanted to immediately start paying out to some people. So, boomers (very large generation) paid for their parents (relatively much smaller generation, meaning small per-person bill).
Now millennials and zoomers (relatively smaller generations) are expected to pay for boomers (much larger per-person bill). Between that, the incredible spending of medicare, and the federal propping-up of the housing market, a huge proportion of the economy has been dedicated to wealth transfer to the olds, an unproductive class who will be gone soon anyhow.
You could argue that you shouldn’t have to pay for social security. But hopefully you aren’t arguing that you shouldn’t have to pay and prior payers should get screwed. Any exit to social security should ensure that the previous bargain is upheld, somehow, given the forced participation and the number of people who have planned their retirement around it.