Your picture of the SSI app, however is dead on. Paid for 100% by us taxpayers. And horribly abused and fraudulent.
They are earned entitlements in one sense, but the money that is being paid out now is taken directly from taxpayers. What current beneficiaries paid was spent years ago.
Also, those collecting now are receiving far more than what they paid into the system (if they have been in the system for more than 6 or 7 years). It’s a ponzi scheme that makes every generation a burden to the next. All government programs pit groups of people against each other in a fight for the spoils.
You can't "earn" that which is derived from fraud. Social Security is a fraud called a "Ponzi scheme". Early "investors" are rewarded using the payments of later suckers. When the geometric nature of the required participation rate is discovered, one must finally conclude that the program is unsound.
Unfortunately, the government is determined to allow the fraud to continue by simply printing money to cover the shortfall, effectively taxing those who hold dollars to make the payments. This will not end well.