Dear Social Security recipients, why should I care if Social Security ends?

By: Quinton Bradley Smith

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A Millennial here. 

A lot of the time I hear you talking about how Social Security doesn't pay enough. A common thing I hear is that some of you have to decide between food and Medicine. Well, I'd like to know if it doesn't pay enough now, why should I keep paying into it? What guarantee is there for me--and other voters my age--that Social Security will be around for us as we reach retirement? Because it seems that Social Security is already on death's bed.

Social Security as we know it today was born on October 30, 1972. Richard Nixon's Social Security program went into full affect 2 years after, in January of 1974, when according to US Census Data: "the medium income was between $11-12,000. source That means you--my elders, would have paid on average about $744 a year in social security taxes. 

Why should I pay into social security? I might not get any of it back. Today medium income earners pay around $2170.00 a year. That's about $1350.00 more than those receiving benefits now paid.

It's common to hear Social Security recipients prat on about "I'm not getting anything for free. I paid into Social Security my whole life."
Well, that can't be 100% true. If you have received Social Security for more than 10 years, there's no way you paid that much into it. Not with interest. Not with periodic increases in your payment; you didn't pay what you got out and what you will continue to get. I know you built this country. And nobody's saying you don't deserve a comfortable life now. You should even get more money if you ask me. We depend on the infrastructure you guys built. We owe you everything, even our lives. Without the work you--the retired did when you worked, we'd be lost. I understand that.


Today's Social Security benefits pay $750 to single individual per month, and $1,125 to a couple. And while it is true that that is barely enough to live on, it's a substantial bit more than the $744 a year most recipients paid into it. But that's not the point. Social Security has become the piggy-bank of irresponsible leader over the years. They've pilfered and infected the whole system.

It's more complicated than that, right? I understand that.

And it's more honest to say that from 1974 until when you went on Social Security, you probably had a few increases in your annual pay. As a result you probably paid more than I've estimated into the Social Security fund. But nobody paid what they're getting. Nobody paid $744 a month into Social Security.

I'm not advocating putting all our elderly on an iceberg and sending you out to sea when you're no longer useful to society. Nor do I really believe my elders ever stop being useful--what with the jokes you know and the crap you've seen and the massive amounts of knowledge you possess... But I am saying that we all take a step back and look at Social Security for what it is now. Social Security is dying. Social Security has become a convoluted form of socialism. 

Listen, I am a know-it-all millennial and I haven't been as indoctrinated with the propaganda against socialism as my elders have been. Calling Social Security a form of Socialism is not intended to be an insult. It's intended to be a reality check. If that's what you want, let's just face it and do away with Social Security all together! But only after we replace it with some way to ensure that you're able to buy your medicine and your dinner and maybe, just maybe, have a little money left over to buy us know-it-all millenials some Christmas presents. 

Because I would rather pay more than I am, if it means the greats who came before me don't have to get by on the scraps left by the officials who have nickel and dimed the Social Security fund almost to death.

Everyone will agree that you deserve it. You got our cards in order and worked hard to put our country together. You built an infrastructure that we still depend on. We want to take care of you. But don't attempt to sell us on this Ponzi scheme that is so clearly failing us all.

Quinton Bradley Smith