Replies

Good assumption, and one that gets "better" (more bleak) the younger you are. By the time I hit 70 in 1937, I strongly suspect Social Security will only be payable to those 75+ AND WHO ARE VERY POOR. So the irony is that by saving independently, I will have guaranteed that I cannot get back any of my SS contributions.

Unfortunately, I think even that suspicion is very optimistic. I think either Social Security won't exist at all by 2037 or our country will be so bankrupt that any money Social Security does pay out won't be worth anything anyway.

Unfortunately, the fundamental problem with Social Security is that the idea that your FICA taxes are a "contribution" that you will "get back" when you retire was fraudulent from day one. I think the first person who received Social Security checks "contributed" about $240 and "got back" about $23,000.

Social Security is not and never was a retirement plan. At best, it is a welfare program fraudulently misrepresented as a retirement plan. More accurately, it is a Ponzi scheme.

As sad as it may be, the victims of a Ponzi scheme have no right to recover money that was already spent by the perpetrator, and certainly have no right to force new marks to "invest" in the scheme just to keep it going.

Unfortunately, the victims in this case have the political power to do just that. That's why I'm becoming less and less optimistic that the Social Security conundrum won't be resolved before it's too late. I just hope our own retirement savings will be worth a damn by then.