"You wanna kill grandma?!!!" My paycheck was forcibly siphoned off for this fund for almost 50 years with the govt promise of "it's okay, trust us, we will be giving you your money back to you plus interest". Now it's getting close to time for me to get it back, with interest. This was a contract between employees and the US Govt in which we had no say in the matter. The politicians have played with inflation numbers, SS payments (in buying power) have diminished significantly through the years because annual increases never kept up with real inflation. They have gimmicked every angle and if Dems remain in power you will see them use it to further divide young vs old. Blame the corrupt politicians for being unable to resist stealing it for their pet projects, giving it away to those who never paid into it, leaving nothing in the fund but a pile of US Govt IOUs for the next generations to pay. If they had never touched it, the fund would be solvent for many more decades.