Or if SS had remained what it started out to be, which was to take care of the people who really needed. The impoverished, widows and orphans and the disabled. It became, in effect, a pension fund for everyone.
It may have been promoted as a Government resource (rather that charities and churches), to support the disabled, elderly, widows and orphans - but when the Feds mandated deductions from the working poor they called it a ‘future retirement benefit’.