In sometimes excrutiating detail this Heritage Foundation report demonstrates why, for many Americans, Social Security will be worth nowhere near what it costs them. From Kevin Dayaratna, Rachel Greszler and Patrick Tyrrell at heritage.org:
SUMMARY
KEY TAKEAWAYS
This report compares what Social Security can provide and what workers could receive if they had ownership of their Social Security payroll taxes.
This information can help individuals of all ages understand what they can expect to receive from Social Security or from private savings.
Virtually all Americans would be better off keeping their payroll taxes and saving them in private retirement accounts.
Social Security began as an anti-poverty insurance program, aimed at preventing workers from outliving their savings when they were no longer physically able to work. As such, Social Security was limited in nature, beginning as only a 2 percent payroll tax—and promising to never take more than 6 percent of workers’ pay. Today, Social Security’s Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) retirement program takes 10.6 percent of workers’ pay, and its Disability Insurance (DI) program takes another 1.8 percent, for a combined total of 12.4 percent. This is more than most Americans pay in income taxes.
As Social Security has grown in size and scope, it has become more than just an insurance and poverty prevention program—and with millions of seniors living below the federal poverty line, it is not doing a great job even at that. Having reduced the incentive to save for retirement, Social Security now represents a significant portion of most workers’ retirement savings. Despite the fact that Social Security was intended to be an insurance program, providing a secure retirement income, individuals have no legal claim to their scheduled Social Security benefits, as the program can only pay out as much money as it has on hand and Congress can change benefit levels if it wants. Not surprisingly, more than 60 percent of workers under the age of 50 do not think Social Security will be able to pay them a benefit when they retire.
To continue reading: Is Social Security Worth Its Cost?
Absolutely much better to spend the money on the war machine where it can help the Deep State.