Brutus, I’m with you on most everything, but let’s remember that the Social Security System was a bit of a Ponzi scheme from day one, and is a good example of short-termism.
It always relied upon large bunch of contributors to support an initially-small but growing group of recipients. When initiated in the 1930s, it had nothing but contributors for several years until the first qualified recipient took their first SS check in 1940. Of course, contributions were tiny at first, but had to inevitably grow to current confiscatory levels in order to support our growing population of recipients. If you look back at one of your paycheck stubs from 40 years ago, I’ll bet your Social Security tax was under 2%. Accordingly you (and I) got a terrific bargain from Social Security. Today’s workers, especially the youngest, get a horrible deal. I would not be surprised if they could opt out of SS and instead stuff their SS contribution and the equal amount their employer makes on their behalf into a mattress, interest free, and take it out upon retirement to live off of.
