Very well stated. And, as I like to put it, the fact that the older people have spent all of their tax money (including SS) and then some (actually a lot, as in $16T) DOES NOT give them the right to make my children into debt slaves for their now-unfunded retirement.
If they want money when they retire, they should have saved their own money. If they didn’t do that, then they should ask THEIR children first (not have the government put a gun to the head of my children). If neither is available, then they should be able to go to the state and take my kids’ money, but only to the point of what is needed to survive.
And don’t give me any crap about an “implied contract”. I started working 30 years ago myself, and EVERYONE back then knew that Social Security money was being spent faster than it came in, on all kinds of stuff beyond Social Security. As you said, it is a payroll TAX, just like an income TAX, it all went the same place and it was ALL spent at that time, and that WAS NOT a state secret.
Unfortunately one of the largest organizations in the country (40 million members) has spent decades brainwashing people just the opposite.
AARP