From LinkedIn

The social security administration “never had a data breach" in its 85 years of operation. TikToker lnkd.in/ev73WSJa , policy nerd Kathryn Anne Edwards, talks about the SSA for 53 minutes and somehow makes it interesting: lnkd.in/emueVBEN

As a young person (age 22) she wrote “A Young Person’s Guide to Social Security” and clearly has been obsessed with the topic since then.

Apparently the SSA was never in danger of bankruptcy. Even the 2035 milestone of having to reduce payments is 70% solvable if they remove the cap on payments for incomes over $170,000 (5% of the population). The cap was introduced in 1983 at the same time as 50-year planned change in payments rates to safeguard beyond 2035. The plan had two mistakes: one, adding that cap, and two, not predicting that wages would stagnate for people below the cap while skyrocketing for the people above the cap.

In other words it has nothing to do with the ageing population – that was predicted, priced and planned 50 years ago, with regular updates from the government’s actuaries.

She wrote her book back then because young people keep on being told social security will not last. This is not true and it is an amazing welfare program.