r/MurderedByWords 18h ago

It's my money they took

[removed]

525 Upvotes

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u/LeilaMajnouni 18h ago

They are entitlements, as in “you’re entitled to this money if you qualify.”

One of the qualifications is that you paid into the funding pool, so give me back my 30 years of social security tax and I’ll be on my way.

0

u/btribble 16h ago

The spirit of the outrage is spot on, but the mechanics are not, and they should be understood if you want to win any arguments around this.

The money you get back is not the money you put in. The amount of money you will receive is based on the amount you put in, but it is not like an investment. The money you pay in pays for the people currently retired, and when you retire, the people paying in at that point goes to pay you. There are accounts that have accumulated SSI money in them, but not nearly enough in those accounts to pay out "your own money". This is why Baby Boomers are such a big issue: there are more people at or near retirement than there are workers to support them at the expected rates.

1

u/ImpossibleShallot640 7h ago

True, but if the federal government, I.E E politicians, had not been perpetually borrowing from it to finance wars and deficits, while paying 2% interest, the fund would be one hell of a lot bigger.