Not at all. Social Security is the nation’s largest disability insurance program, providing disability benefits to 8.7 million Americans — workers with disabilities, along with their spouses and children. It is also the nation’s largest children’s program — nearly 4 million children directly receive benefits, and millions more live in households that receive benefits. In fact, over one in five Social Security beneficiaries are receiving disability or survivor benefits.

Social Security is by far the nation’s most important life insurance policy, providing benefits to older persons (i.e., widow and widowers) whose spouse has died, to many younger spouses caring for dependent children, and to children whose parent has died.

The best part about Social Security benefits is that, in contrast to savings in a 401(k) or IRA, they never run out (for surviving children, until they become adults). Furthermore, in contrast to a pension, they are fully portable between jobs. And in contrast to both 401(k)s/IRAs and the vast majority of pensions, benefits are protected from erosion by inflation, through the COLA.

For most Americans, Social Security is essential for retirement. Around half of seniors rely on Social Security benefits for most of their income. And Social Security’s importance is increasing. Americans have traditionally relied on Social Security, employer pensions, and personal savings (including home equity) – to have sufficient income for retirement. But employer pension plans are disappearing, most Americans have been unable to accumulate meaningful savings in 401(k)s/IRAs, and homeownership rates and housing values have declined. For many, Social Security is the only reliable and adequate source of retirement income.

Social Security’s revenue was about $1.09 trillion in 2021. The program has three sources of income. The largest source comes from workers and employers who contribute 6.2% each on wages up to $160,200 a year; this raises 90.1% of the total. The second source is investment income from Social Security’s reserves, which are held in Trust and invested in interest-bearing U.S. Treasury bonds; this raises 6.4% of total revenue. Finally, Social Security gets 3.4% of its revenue from the income taxes that higher-income beneficiaries pay on a portion of their Social Security benefits.

No. Social Security has its own dedicated revenue stream described above, so it does not contribute a penny to the federal deficit. In fact, it currently enjoys a $2.8 trillion surplus. And Social Security is forbidden by law from borrowing, so it cannot deficit spend.

Social Security’s surplus is in two trust funds, the Old Age and Survivors Insurance fund and the Disability Insurance fund. The accumulated reserves are invested in interest-bearing government bonds, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States.

No, unless you consider U.S. savings bonds mere “IOUs” or the green stuff in your wallet worthless because it, too, only has value because it is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America. The Social Security trust fund is fully invested in U.S. Treasury bonds, bearing fair market rates of return, just like all other investors in U.S. Treasury bonds.

Social Security can never go bankrupt. Nearly all (97 percent) of its income comes from the contributions of workers and employers, including interest on these contributions. Hence as long as there are workers in America, Social Security will have income. Even if Congress were to take no action, Social Security could pay 100% of promised benefits for the next 12 years, and more than three-quarters of benefits after that. Around 2035 there will be a modest funding gap requiring modest increases in revenues to guarantee everyone 100% of promised benefits.

We can close the vast majority of Social Security’s funding gap by scrapping the payroll tax cap. Currently, millionaires and billionaires make payroll tax contributions on only the first $160,200 they make in annual wages.

A few reasons. The first thing to understand is that raising Social Security’s full retirement age from 67 to 70 would amount to around a 20% across-the-board benefit cut, no matter what age an eligible worker retires. What’s more, raising the retirement age would be especially unfair to low-income workers and minorities, who are more likely to work in physically demanding jobs. In fact, it could make many low-income workers, who have seen few or no gains in life expectancy in recent decades, work until they die. Finally, raising the retirement age discriminates against the growing number of elderly unemployed, who have a much harder time finding new work after being laid off. A more detailed fact sheet is available here.

A very small portion of Social Security benefits go to the wealthy, so excluding them from the program would save little. In order to save a meaningful sum through means-testing, Social Security would have to “means-test away” some or all of the benefits of many middle-class retirees – those with household incomes starting at $50,000, many of whom could not afford to forgo their Social Security benefits.

Moreover, if Social Security stopped paying benefits to upper-income seniors, political pressure would mount to have it stop collecting contributions from high earners as well, which would hurt the program’s finances. Or, if means-testing were implemented so as to require high earners to keep paying but get little in return, Social Security would become more like a welfare program, which Americans would not support.

Additionally, if Social Security were means-tested, everyone would have to show their income tax returns, home values, and other measures of their income and assets to show that they were poor enough to receive benefits. It would turn the most successful domestic program in the nation upside down.

In short, it makes far more sense to leave intact the current system’s fair and intelligent design, whereby everyone pays in, and everyone receives their earned benefits.

Social Security benefits are adjusted automatically each year, through the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), to keep pace with inflation. Without the COLA, the real value of a retiree’s benefits would be cut in half in 20 years. Unfortunately, the COLA formula undermeasures the rising medical costs experienced by Social Security beneficiaries. Consequently, it should be updated.

Discussions of Social Security too often focus on technical questions rather than the broader goals of the program. Generations of Americans have built the Social Security system because we believe that all Americans should work hard and provide for our families’ economic security through a lifetime of contributions and, in turn, know that our families will be able to live in dignity when we retire, become disabled, or suffer premature death.

Indeed, Social Security represents the best of American values – reward for hard work, responsible management, unity, self-help, and compassion for ourselves, our families, and our neighbors. We all contribute and we all benefit.