LETTER: Social Security and longer living recipients

A recent letter writer (“Shrinking sizes”) asserted that Social Security recipients are being cheated on their benefits by inaccurate inflation measurements. He may be right. But he neglects to mention how many of those same recipients are actually benefiting from “extra” Social Security payments.

To explain, there are two primary reasons that the Social Security fund is close to drying up. The first and most obvious one that virtually every senior is aware of is that Congress couldn’t help but raiding the fund — as a child might empty his or her piggy bank — and has been unable or unwilling to repay this “loan.”

The second, and perhaps more significant, reason is that when Social Security was established, the average life expectancy was significantly lower than it is now. So, for the most part, we’re all benefiting from or going to collect Social Security benefits for a much longer period of time than the plan was originally designed for.

This has strained the system. And, whether we like it or not, Congress repaying what its “borrowed” — were it ever to happen — would not be sufficient to deal with the other major issue involving longevity and Social Security.