Please go back and read my posting. I already pointed out that anyone claiming that the "surplus was stolen" is either misinformed, or deliberately lying. Which are you?
The Trust Fund exists, it contains interest bearing bonds. If you don't believe me, read the 2015 Social Security Trustee's report.
It wasn't "squandered". It was invested in the safest investment at the time, as required by law.
That money we paid into SS, just as if we invested into an interest bearing savings account at the bank, would legitimately have been ours, all of it, including the interest, just like in a bank account with interest.
Yes, that's true. But, that's not what happened. Almost all of it was paid immediately to your parents and grandparents. THAT is where the money went.
Old-age benefits are in trouble because Social Security has been paying more than it can afford for almost 40 years. If Congress "squandered" anything, it's because they gave too much to your parents, grandparents, and in the future.. you.
It’s all ours, we retired people.
Once again, I hate to burst this bubble. But, you don't "own" anything in Social Security. You don't have a contractual right to Social Security benefits. All you have is the promise that future generations will be taxed, and the money given to you.
But, Congress can completely eliminate your Social Security benefit at any time, and the only recourse you have is to vote against them. Period.
Don't believe it? The Supreme Court has considered exactly this in Flemming v. Nestor (1960). Congress eliminated benefits for someone already collecting, and he sued. He lost. Congress reserved the power to themselves to change Social Security in any way, at any time.
Go back to just lurking. Bull, there is no money in the lockbox.
SS was designed as a pass-through system. The amount paid out was supposed to equal the amount taken in. In the early years the SS tax rate was adjusted every year to keep the two in balance.
I believe it was LBJ who came up with the policy of lending excess SS funds to the general fund in exchange for bonds.
There really can’t be a “lockbox” where people’s SS contributions are stored, that would have a highly deflationary impact on the economy by draining money out of the economy. The biggest problem with SS is the ratio of people paying in to people getting taking out. I sure wouldn’t want to rely on it surviving.