[diogenescynic]

"The beauty of social insurance is that it is actually unsound. Everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privelleges that far exceed anything he has paid in...How is it possible? It stems from the fact that the national product is growing at compound interest ... More important, with real incomes going up at some 3% per year, the taxable base on which ebenfits rest in any period are much greater than the taxes paid historically by the generation now retired.

Social security is squarely based on what has been called the eighth wonder of the world--compound interest. A growing nation is the greatest Ponzi game ever contrived."-- Paul Samuelson

[anamax]

Except that demographics change. We've known that the demograhics were going to make SS untenable for decades.

> Everyone who reaches retirement age is given benefit privelleges that far exceed anything he has paid in

That's not actually true of folks who max.