Social Security was established as a pay-as-you-go system. In 1987, the income side went into a significant and unprecedented surplus that accumulated by 2020 into a $2.8T Federal government accounting entry called the "Trust Fund"[1]. Al Gore's "lockbox". We've been anticipating the "bust" forever because it's still pay-as-you-go and the demographics and structure don't work past the 2030s and never have.
This "Trust Fund" is pretty silly, especially in today's cleptocratic political environment. It's not like the trustees can invest it according to their fiduciary duties. And, it's not fair an entire generation has been paying more than required to support current retirees, only to have the system revert to pay-as-you-go for their own retirements. For this, as many economic gems, we apparently can thank Alan Greenspan[2]?
This "Trust Fund" is pretty silly, especially in today's cleptocratic political environment. It's not like the trustees can invest it according to their fiduciary duties. And, it's not fair an entire generation has been paying more than required to support current retirees, only to have the system revert to pay-as-you-go for their own retirements. For this, as many economic gems, we apparently can thank Alan Greenspan[2]?
[1] https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4a3.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenspan_Commission