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is slightly different in its funding. You are not taking into account the massive inflation that makes the dollars you put into Social Security in the 1970s worth a great deal more in today's dollars than they were when you paid them in.
Many investments that you made in the 1970s and then held for all those years would have grown considerably in value. Social Security payments are really not that high. The average payment is about $1200 per month.
The real problem is that older people who are healthy and would probably be working in the economy we enjoyed in the 1990s are now forced into taking early retirement. That's the real problem.
Once you are over 65, the chance that an employer will hire you is very slim at this time. If you have a job you may be able to keep it, but even that is often doubtful.
Some past generations had pensions, but the current retirees seldom do -- because unions have been destroyed.
Even if we did not have Social Security, the government would have to pick up the tab for most retirees because they would have no place else to turn. There is no alternative to our current Social Security system and the monthly benefits are just enough to keep about half of the recipients barely above the poverty level.
There isn't any room to cut back on Social Security. This is especially true because it is one of the ways that nursing homes that care for the very, very helpless elderly are kept viable.
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