Comment by mothballed
18 hours ago
The dead person paid other dead people that died before them, why would that establish a debt from me to them? If the dead person got their SS back from the even deader people before them that they previously paid, I'd agree they were merely paid back what they paid into them.
People are legally required to pay into the fund to pay for a legally guaranteed benefit. The mechanics of the program are immaterial. If the program doesn’t pay for the benefit they were promised, after taking their money, that’s theft.
You could argue that you shouldn’t have to pay for social security. But hopefully you aren’t arguing that you shouldn’t have to pay and prior payers should get screwed. Any exit to social security should ensure that the previous bargain is upheld, somehow, given the forced participation and the number of people who have planned their retirement around it.