You left out the part where the $$ that we do receive from SS (that we paid into) is also being taxed, in my case at 28%. So it goes right back into the politicians...er, I mean the government’s coffers. And in the case of widowed people, you can only collect either your, or your late spouse’s benefit, not both, even though both were partners paid in (assuming both spouses were employed, which is a pretty safe assumption in there economic times.) There are all manner of ways that the government has (and has always had) of screwing the average citizen out of their money).