>How else would one view the Social Security program that you are paying into? I'm certainly no expert, but that sounds more like a description of an IRA or 40

>How else would one view the Social Security program that you are paying into? I'm certainly no expert, but that sounds more like a description of an IRA or 401K, I think. As far as I know, the social security program in the US isn't actually structured in such a way that each person's SS taxes are going into an individual investment account under their own name (despite the "how much I've earned" statements which might seem to suggest this). In fact, the SS taxes being collected right now from you and the entire current generation of earners, are going directly to the current generation of retirees. So rather than being a career-long savings/investment scheme where your own money comes back to you at the end, it is actually implemented as a wealth transfer scheme from the current generation of earners to the current generation of retirees. Some years the fund might book a surplus (more taxes raised than benefits paid) and in some years a deficit. But I agree that it seems to be a common view (or perhaps just metaphor) that people's own SS taxes are being accrued against their name for later payback as benefits. But as far as I can tell, social security has never worked that way and wasn't designed to.