Yeah… that's the way social security USED to work. It was originally intended that you would pay into the system to support your parents and your children would pay to support you. Remember though, the Social Security system began paying that first generation of elderly people without those people ever having paid into the system.
The state of health and medical care back then didn't have those first generations living long enough to draw en masse. A pretty small number of that first generation actually benefitted from SS. The system began in 1935. Also, the first recipients' health was already diminished by deprivations of the global flu epidemic, WWI, and the Great Depression, followed by the deprivations and losses of WWII.
Then came the Baby Boomer generation. Think for a moment about how many more of them there were to pay into the system for their parents' generation. And, wives didn't work in those first generations, but they still drew spousal benefits. Also, consider how many people in those days were still working what we now call a "gig economy" on a largely cash basis. Boomers drew standard FICA deductible paychecks. Plus, Boomers normalized the two family income.
Next, consider all the folks who never drew from the system they paid into all their lives. How many people died before they retired to draw SS? How many people – especially women who stopped working to raise the kids – found themselves disqualified to collect.
This happened to me, actually. I'm Gen X. I stopped working to raise our son. While I was raising him, I became disabled. Eleven years later, I tried to collect SS Disability and found out I was ineligible for SS benefits because it had been more than ten years since I'd worked. Twenty-five years I paid into that system from fifteen to forty. The system just fucked off with my pay-ins. How many people with similar impediments never collect?
Boomers flooded the social security system with more than would ever be drawn from it. There SHOULD be a massive surplus. But, the government "borrowed" against the fund – and never paid it back. Then, they have the unmitigated gall to treat SS as if it's a charity. There's no charity. We paid into that system with every penny we earned all our employed lives.
But, they tell us the system needs deep cuts. They tell us SS may not be there for the current generations paying into it. Does anyone believe they will stop drawing from our paychecks if they do end SS? I don't.
It's not just SS that is broken. Society is broken. Kids today are smart. I think they're smarter and more tuned in to how the world doesn't work than any generation before them. What motivation is there for them to perpetuate our broken systems?
