The problem, of course, is that the money paid into the system by each retiree – even adjusted for inflation and returns on the money paid in – doesn’t cover the average retiree’s benefits received. More specifically, the average beneficiary of Social Security takes out far more money in retirement than they paid into the system. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have a problem. The simplest solutions to this problem are to (1) raise the ceiling on earnings to which the SS tax is applied, and (2) raise the age at which initial benefits can be received.
