This is total crap. SS takes from the poor and gives them back their own money at a terrible return on investment.
I hope it is not "total" crap. As we know it, Social Security is a pay as you go system--one generation supports the retirement of the generation that worked before it. It's really not our own money we are getting back, and this is where the debate over privatizing it starts.
Sorry, but the evidence is quite clear that Social Security is very effective in supporting the elderly at decent levels. No other population or demographic group in the US has benefitted as much from public policies in reducing poverty as the elderly. Social Security gets the credit. Unlike most other programs, we contribute to Social Security.