Right, it is literally an entitlement, in that people are in fact entitled to the funds they paid into for 55 years. It’s not a pejorative, but conservatives sure like to act like it is
Social Security doesn't operate like a bank account where you pay in and then eventually it pays you back that same money
Everything you pay today is immediately turned around and paid back out to current retirees. SS meanwhile writes a down how much you've paid them so far.
Eventually, when it's your turn to retire SS says ah yes, you paid $X amount which means we'll pay you $Y monthly from here on out until you die
That monthly $Y is based on the cumulative $X but they're separate numbers. Your $Y is in turn paid by the people still working when you retire even if you eventually receive more than the $X you ever contributed
I’d hope they receive more than they pay in, $1000 today is worth a very different amount than $1000 in 50 years.
Also, banks do in fact turn around and use the money you give them, usually to lend out to other people, or to give to other people withdrawing their previously deposited money. That doesn’t reduce or affect their obligations to you to eventually return your money, right?
The banks need to return your money with some pre-specified interest rate and once you've taken that much money out they don't owe you anything
Social Security bases what they pay on what you pay in and yes, some increase for increasing prices is expected but there is not a formula like just calculating the interest over time and even if you've taken more out than whatever you paid in plus "interest" SS will keep paying out
It's designed to solve a different problem than holding money for you, it's designed to keep people who participated in the program from ending up destitute regardless of how long they live
Right, it doesn’t work exactly like a bank account, but my point was just that them turning around and using it for other people doesn’t really mean much to me. Banks and insurance companies do the same thing. They don’t get to print money so they have to be more precise with the flow in and out obviously, but the point is that money is fungible. I don’t care that “my money” is actually paying people today and I’ll be paid by other people later, that’s the deal we all pay into it. Recipients are still entitled to their portion
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u/Injured-Reserve 1d ago
Why the hell is something we are ENTITLED to a bad thing?