The article says the combination of social security and Medicare yields more, not just social security. And, if you read closely, you will see that the average couple actually does get less social security benefits than they pay in taxes. Medicare is where they come out ahead.
There are two problems with this:
1. it assumes everyone spends the same amount on medical care. Someone that takes care of themselves will have less medical expenses. Of course, they will probably live longer, tipping they scales toward more SS benefits.
2. The average income couple is representative of a very small set of people. I did the calculations: the couple with median incomes “break even” on SS: their taxes and benefits almost balance out. But, if your average lifetime income is less than the median, you get a better deal. If your income is higher than the median, you get a raw deal.
The farther your average lifetime income departs from the median, the better or worse deal you get. This is the part that few realize, and if it was better known, there would be a lot less support for SS - because it would expose the means testing that makes it almost indistinguishable from other welfare programs.
Fine, just give me my SS & Medicare taxes back with appropriate interest and inflation adjustment and I’ll take care of myself.
Welfare my ass. I had that money stolen from for all my working life. Why is SS always being threatened with running out of money, but welfare never is?
The farther your average lifetime income departs from the median, the better or worse deal you get.
My problem with most Federal programs designed to help the poor or the temporarily needy is that they're a "one size fits all" solution. It's the nature of the beast, and one big reason Americans should be a lot more wound up about Federal organizations taking power away from state, and State from local. Generally speaking, the more localized, the more individualized, and the more individualized, the more effective.
Effective and efficient solutions just are not possible when they have to be applied to such a huge group of people in such a big variety of situations.