Roosevelt falsely promoted Social Security to Americans as a “savings account for the old age of the worker” with contributions made by employers and employees through payroll taxes “held by the government solely for the benefit of the worker in his old age.” This was an intentional lie, but it is what causes people to still believe that Social Security is for Us. It is the largest annual expenditure of the federal government.
First and Foremost, I am absolutely not a FDR fan (I liked Teddy). FDR looked out at the depression and the past a put forth he felt was a rock solid plan to protect the elderly. The problem wasn’t that the plan was flawed, or that base net for the working poor was flawed. No, that was actually acceptable and well thought out. The problem with SS is that at the time it had unrealistic requirements....most people never saw age 65 to retire, but all were taxed.
I think here that FDR actually meant well for the nation and the future. Yes, it was the ‘cornerstone’ of socialism, but it was set up to actually be a positive thing for a growing society in a time of need. The failure of FDR was simple, it was called LBJ. LBJ convinced Congress to vote to ‘raid’ the SS fund to support the Grand Society-—WELFARE. That bankrupted SS, all by itself. The mistake FDR made was not making SS LBJ proof.
No matter what, Social Security is The Nanny State as the Brits first called it. Full disclosure: I am receiving an adequate check from the SSA.