SS payouts are a ripe off ....I worked until age 67....I paid in for nearly 5 decades....
and people will still say its an entitlement.....not that you personally didn't "donate" so much to it over the yrs.
Your social security (SS) “tax” you paid in while you were working went to pay the SS retirement benefits of those then retired. To show you I am not making this up. Here’s the SSA.gov link.
You will notice that this graphic begins in 1940. In 1940 there were 159.4 workers covering the benefits for every one worker. In 2013 where the graphic ends you will see that it has shrunk down to 2.8 workers per covered beneficiary. I find it interesting that the chart ends at 2013 - 9 years ago! The current worker per covered ration must be abysmal and they’re afraid to show it!
This ‘sort of works’ as long as there is a significantly larger number paying in. Just like a Ponzi Scheme almost works as long as it keeps its subscriber subscription expanding!
Also, the money you paid in. It’s not yours - no property rights in it! There have been several federal court including USSC decisions confirming that. If you had property rights in UT, you could make it part of your estate. You can’t!
Also, if you live long enough it’s possible to take out far more then you put in! The best example is Ida May Fuller. The news reels of the day declared her the first social security recipient. She has a wiki link.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_May_Fuller
Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75. Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits.
There have been 10s if not 100s of thousands of Ida May Fullers!
Why was SS set up so ridiculously? Insurance execs and financial experts at the time advised the FDR administration that it was financially unsound. FDR’s geniuses were Ivy League lawyers they weren’t about to take advice. I’ll tell you why! It gives a political whip hand to the Rats to keep them in power - “Don’t touch you GOP’ers you’ll starve grandma!”. A pool of money to dip into as long as the ratios are high to reward cooperating constituent groups.