retirees started receiving benefits even if they never paid into the system, which was paid for by the current workers who were paying into the system.
The vast majority of current boomers have fully paid for their own Social Security pension.
Social Security was designed to have winners and losers in the contributions game. My mom died at 64, and my dad died at 59. They both contributed to Social Security during their entire working lives without collecting a cent from it. That’s the way it goes.
Okay, but that necessarily means that other people are now paying for their Social Security. This person, specifically, did not fully pay for their own Social Security. They’re living off of public money, not money they contributed themselves.
The vast majority of current boomers have fully paid for their own Social Security pension.
That’s a distinction without a difference.
The OP specifically depicts someone that’s 90 years old.
Doesn’t that mean the amount they paid in to Social Security might have actually run out years ago?
Social Security was designed to have winners and losers in the contributions game. My mom died at 64, and my dad died at 59. They both contributed to Social Security during their entire working lives without collecting a cent from it. That’s the way it goes.
Okay, but that necessarily means that other people are now paying for their Social Security. This person, specifically, did not fully pay for their own Social Security. They’re living off of public money, not money they contributed themselves.