I'm assuming that you're not referring to the WW2 vets who came home and went to work, because they definitely "earned it" from a greatful nation.
So you must be referring to their children, and their children's children.
To the extent that the descendants "earned" anything, it was a work ethic that they learned from their parents and grandparents; a sense of familial duty to be the "breadwinner" --the income earner -- for their own family, and accepting that the burden that comes with that is paying into a system that makes elderly life easier for their parents and grandparents; and instilling on their own children the same sense of family and obligation that one day, they will get a job, support a family, and also pay into the system that will ease the burdens of their parents and grandparents.
-PJ
No.
I’m referring to the dozens of government programs that created the greatest economy the world has ever seen.