[thinkthenpost]

I believe there should be an income test to determine what degree the beneficiary relies on Social Security for their day to day expenses.
Those that do not have alternate sources of monies coming in and the government is responsible for the over payments not the retiree it is my opinion the amount to be recovered should not exceed 50% of the payment.
If the government screwed up I would certainly hope the first action is to ensure that Social Security stops screwing up people's payouts.
Claw backs are fine, but since Social Security was supposed to be Beans and rice meals, and to keep the roof over your head, rather than your entire pension and retirement income for those that it is all they have or all they get you simply can't take food out of their mouths.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Finally, if the over payment is due to some kind of fraud or claims the payee is not entitled to I believe that prosecution should definitely be on the table.

[ansel12]

The army did that to me, suddenly I received zero pay.

[Chickensoup]

This didn’t have to be fine this way.

I wonder if a mole in the ss administration set it up to harm the administration?

[napscoordinator]

In a way I agree. Except everyone knows how much they get every month. Let’s say you are married and get 4,000 a month. Spouse dies but 4,000 keeps coming. You know that you are only entitled to 2 grand now so the extra should be put in a separate account ready for craw back when time comes.

[Myrddin]

The social security benefit that you are entitled to receive should depend upon nothing more or less than what you paid into your "account" during your employed years. No other income should be taken into account to lower the benefit you are due as a consequence of your contributions.