Well, not to derail the thread drspouse but actually i am not delusional. The SS crisis is a political meme created by charlatans to hoodwink the ill-informed. it's solvent for several decades to come and the fix is very simple: Raise the cap on salary subject to contributions. It can go on in perpetuity with that slight adjustment.
As to whether my contributions will cover what I reap - debatable but at least as a single chidlfree I have not already sapped it with claims by minors, minor survivors, disabled minors, a stay-home spouse, divorced spouses etc. People in my cohort put the lightest footprint on the SS system and we cannot name a beneficiary in case of premature death. It's all down the drain and redistributed to the childed.
Couple of examples: About 18 months ago a woman i know was widowed. Her husband was 60, she is 41. He earned about $80K a year and so does she. They had a 14-year-old daughter. Between the daughter's survivor benefits and the "caregviver" benefits the widow will collect, they will collect about $150K in tax-free cash by the time the girl is 19. Now, that girl will never "pay back what she receives" plus foot the bill for her mother's SS plus her own, t he way you all are constantly saying that the future generation is going to do. In addition eventually the widow will collect on her husband's SS account instead of her own because, while their recent salaries were similar, he had higher lifelong earnings and thus a higher benefit. And because he was married to his first wife for more t han 10 years, she too will be collecting off his account. I assure you that all of this adds up to FAR more than he ever contributed and FAR more than the liability a single childfree would incur at the same lifelong wage level as him. So frankly I feel no qualms about my footprint on the system compared to the childed. Not to mention the benefits the 8 million or so kids who are on SS disability. You think their own parents' contributions cover that??
Family next door to our cottage - father died of heart attack when kids were pre-teen and teen so all four of them collected SS survivor benefits for many years and the mom got caregiver benefits. No sooner was the younger daughter over 18 then she hooked up with a meth head and had two kids by him. He ran their car off the road, the little girl was killed and the baby boy brain damaged. So was the father. So he, the baby (who is now age 28) and the baby's mother (till the baby was 19) all have been a liability lo these many years. Now the granny of the clan is in her late 80s and has been collecting widow's benefits since age 60. One of the adult sons has been "on disability"f or some mystery aches and pains for many years too and he lives there too. There is no way this family is a net economic benefit to society; all they do is sit around, smoke weed and figure out how else to bilk the system. The "brain damaged" 28 year old is a Juggalo (racist band groupie) with a Confederate battle flag in his window; some benefit to society he is. His mother has shacked up with a long trail of losers, who seem to live off her and her benefits, and on and on. Their house is on a lake and they seem to have no problem affording new boats, etc. all on the largesse of the working taxpayer.
Don't tell me that all these wonderful members of "the next generation" are even pulling their own weight let alone anyone else's. I can't stand republicans in the US but Mitt Romney had a valid point about the 47 percent of takers. We the net payers are tired of getting up and going to work every day to support them.
so although i was in work today (my mum had DD) and yesterday (OH had her), I am definitely not going in tomorrow. Think is norovirus ARGGGGGGHH