When Social Security was started, life expectancy was about 65. It was intended that you were supported for just a few years prior to death and maybe not even make it that far. With increasing life span, people now expect to have 10-15-20 years of retirement.
Social Security also destroyed people’s motivation to save for retirement by making people think the government would take care of them. During my working years I paid into SS the max required. I once did the math on how much money I would have had if I had been allow to keep and invest my money in a IRA or the like. How much I am going to actually retrieve from the gov’t in SS payments is going to be much smaller. All the payments I put in are going to be diverted to other people.
In a just system, interest from savings would at least match inflation. After 40 years of work, the money saved should earn enough to live comfortably. Instead, every year, bit by bit, savings are eroded.