Social Security was designed as an insurance system in the 1930s, so elderly people would not starve and be bankrupt when they retired. Its idea was to supplement the elderly’s retirement, although it is the sole income for many. I am retired, and I and my employers paid into SS for almost 50 years, so it is no “gift” to me. SS has an enormous surplus which our government has been borrowing from for decades. Now that we are getting close to the time where the government will have to start paying SS back the money they took from it, they are trying to “reform” SS to “save” it. It needs no “saving” as SS owns more of our national debt than the Chinese and Japanese combined; it only needs to be repaid what was borrowed from it.

To lump Social Security into the category of “entitlements” is a misleading attempt by our elected representatives, so we will allow them not to have to repay what they “stole” from its reserves. And this system would be there for the next 100 years with no changes if the current cap on earnings (approximately $110,000) would be eliminated. A simple change to save SS but the millionaire/billionaire friends of our Congress will tell them not to make this into the laws.

Ronald Wood