It is welfare. It is a vote buying wealth transfer scheme design. Anyone who takes it is accepting welfare. Anyone who depends on it is welfare dependent.
What about the fact that most recipients paid into Social Security their entire working lifetimes?
What about it? Clarify two things please: 1. What is the it that was paid into? Are you inferring that ones labor justifies taking from another? Thats sounds a lot like Marx labor theory of value. But then that would pretty much explain Social Security.