When the Social Security retirement program was first sold to Americans by Franklin D. Roosevelt it sounded, to many Americans, like nirvana. Here they were being promised a fail-safe retirement safety net that would protect them in their golden years. No longer would Americans ever have to fear being destitute in their old age. To insure its intended use, we were told, contributions would be segregated and placed into a separate financial entity that became known as the Social Security Trust Fund. The government, FDR promised millions of Americans, would never be able to use this money for any purpose, other than to provide a retirement safety net. This was sacred money, he told Americans, and the funds will forever be there to be paid out for their intended purpose, chiefly because it was placed into this trust. A trust, is a legal entity into which money or property is placed. In most trusts, the trust document stipulates how the funds inside the trust are to be used. A typical trust is administered by an Executor, who has fiduciary responsibility to carry out the intended purpose of the trust. So when FDR used the word trust it conjured up all sorts of images of safety, security and responsible fiduciary oversight. That word, trust, was a warm security blanket on a cold winters night. The word trust made Americans feel secure, comfortable. The word trust made us buy into a big government social program.

Well, much has happened since FDR sold America his Social Security Trust Fund idea. The Social Security Trust Fund has been exploited. Let's walk down the long road of drastic changes that were made by politicians, over the last sixty plus years, to our Social Security system:
1.  Social Security participation was initially voluntary. Now, no individual earning income or business compensating individuals can escape paying their mandatory share of Social Security tax.
2.  Individuals contributing to Social Security received a tax benefit in the form of a tax deduction against taxable income. Today Social Security contributions are made with after-tax (out of net income) dollars.
3.  Initial contributions were limited to 1%, up to $1,400 of earned income. Today the combined contribution rate is 12.4% on earned income up to $106,800 (2010 threshold). This threshold increases every year.
4.  Initially, contributions made into the Social Security Trust Fund were not accessible by the federal government for use in the General Fund. Under Lyndon Johnson, the Democratically controlled Congress adopted legislation allowing Congress to use Social Security funds for general spending purposes.
5.  Social Security benefits were never to be taxed. Under Bill Clinton, the Democratically controlled Congress adopted legislation taxing up to 85% of Social Security benefits.

Most prominent finance experts, including former Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan, and former U.S. Comptroller General, David Walker, predict that the the federal government will be unable to meet its Social Security benefit obligations to future
retirees. In fact, Walker stated bluntly that by 2040 the federal government will be unable to pay little, if any, Social Security benefits to future retirees. Alan Greenspan, in his famous book, The Age of Turbulence states that it is unlikely that a significant increase in taxes will not be enough to meet the benefit obligations to future retirees. Social Security benefits will have to be cut and cut dramatically.

The one thing we should learn from this history lesson on Social Security is this: large government social programs never fulfill their  long-term objectives as long as there is a Politician trying to get re-elected. The long-term goals of social programs simply do not outweigh the short-term goal of getting re-elected. Changes in any social program are virtually guaranteed. Tomorrow's government-run health care program will not even closely resemble the legislation that gets passed today.