As of December 2016, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Social Security was given to roughly 41 million workers with an average monthly payment to each of $1,360. Additionally, $916 billion dollars was reserved for social security in the federal budget. This budget also cannot be cut either; it is a part of the budget called mandatory spending which is fixed, along with the interest on the national debt. It does not have the same ability to change as military or education spending, which are part of the discretionary budget. You would think that this is a good thing, as benefits can't be taken away from anyone, but this is actually a problem.

Back when Social Security became a thing in 1935, it was pretty manageable. The number of people was much smaller than it is now, so while it was still the most ambitious social program in American history, it was still much smaller today. However, it was expanded substantially to include programs like Medicare and Medicaid, as well as additional benefits for children and single mothers. I personally like the idea of people who are down on their luck or below the poverty line getting money from the government so that they can pay for food and being alive and stuff. The issue with today's social security system is the absurd amount of old people in this country.

Apparently, when World War Two finally came to an end, every soldier had the primal, unavoidable urge to have all of the babies. This is where the baby boomers came from, and that generation spans from the end of the war until the early 1960s. The baby boomers made the population explode. There were an obscene amount of them, and now they are getting old. That means that all of these old people are now on Social Security. Now, this would be all well and good if they were dying at the age where they are supposed to, but they're not.

Thanks to the marvels of new medical technology, people are living longer than ever before, and the budget cannot handle it. There is a reason that the retirement age is 67, and it is because you were supposed to die when you were 70. Anything beyond that is just extra time. Now, the government is being forced to pay more and more money as more and more people don't die, and they are only going to keep not dying for longer and longer.

There is no way in hell that the government can afford this. It's getting to the point where people might have to work every day of their lives until they die. This is usually where I give an optimistic take on a bad situation, but this time, I don't have anything. Just get ready to work until you die.