[USS Alaska]

Well, you may be thinking, but you don't have enough facts to think intelligently. First, people ar collecting many multiples of what they actually paid in. Because of inflation, actual contributions look puny compared to benefits.

1) Your "facts" are only your experience and do not represent all reality

2) I've been paying SS tax since 1959 and on a present value basis, at 5% apr, the value of my "contributions" would have been $3.3 million at age 65. Compare that to the roughly 2K per month I now receive, that is puny.

3) Do not state that contributions are puny compared to benefits. Nothing is farther from the facts.

[KarlInOhio]

I think you're overestimating what you would have if you kept your SS tax yourself. Even if you made the maximum taxible amount from 1959 to 2006 and kept both the employees and employers tax you would only have $430,000 at the end of 2006 at 5% interest (before paying taxes on the earnings).