Social Security
20th August 2026
Social Security is fundamentally an intergenerational transfer program. It is not a personal savings account in which each of us has accumulated a pot of money earmarked exclusively for our own retirement. “Our” Social Security payroll taxes were immediately distributed as benefits to then-current retirees. Payroll taxes collected today are used primarily to pay benefits to today’s beneficiaries. To make that clear … today, the Social Security benefits we retirees receive come mainly from our kids’ Social Security taxes. In turn, the benefits today’s workers eventually receive will depend largely on the contributions of future workers.
That distinction matters.