“It’s welfare now, and we all know it.”
I hate to burst your bubble on that, even though you are clearly right...since there is no Algore Lockbox.
But...when I made the same point (a few years ago) that it is already welfare, and further said that we should first require the CHILDREN of the elderly to pay for their parents (assuming they have the means), before sticking a gun to our neighbors’ heads and demanding their money instead (in other words, reform SS to be just like child support), people here went berserk - claiming that they paid in for decades, so they want their money back. They were clueless and couldn’t understand that what they paid in was GONE, KAPUT, HISTRA, etc - and it was because they (collectively) DEMANDED low taxes, but high levels of government services. And so ended that discussion.
My dentist, has 3 kids, all are dentist and dental surgeons, so probably an income of around $1M per year between for the three kids. He’s planning to retire soon. Is it really moral to demand that STRUGGLING young couples, trying to pay off student loans and start a family, pay for his retirement, rather than his kids (assuming that he even needs any money in retirement)?
Anyway, lost cause. Some people here mad as hell at Trump because of their trillion dollar deficits. The simply want Trump to cut spending on ‘other people’. Well, so do the welfare queens. It’s a standoff, and it’s not Trump’s fault.
Imagine the difference if SSI revenues went ONLY to SSI payments iastead of the general fund.
Ah well, no use mourning what could have been.