Worse still, you are forced to pay more as time passes. The payroll tax has been raised 17 times since 1935, from 2 percent in the beginning to 12.4 percent today. In 1935 life expectancy in the United States was only 61 years. Today it's 76 years, so the average period of retirement is 11 years. In 1950 there were 16 workers for each retiree.
Today there are only three.
By 2025 there'll be only two and by 2050 only one. In addition to taking more and more, Social Security returns less and less. Today's typical retiree receives a rate of return well under 5 percent, and it will get worse. In contrast, since 1935, stocks in the United States have returned 10.2 percent a year. Bonds have returned nearly 6 percent.