Our Soc Sec problems acutllay started with the Germans (dang those Krauts!) when Otto von Bismarck needed a way to fund the industrialization of the newly united German Empire after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. The monies extorted from France after the victory helped to get der Reich started, but not enough to do the job. Loans were out of the question–no European nation would lend Germany a penny, and the U.S. was tied up with our westward expansion. The only place Bismarck could turn was to the German people, who would rebel if he imposed any more taxes, so he had to come up with another solution. The result? Sell benefits!!First came disability and sickness insurance, mandatory to the people. Then the Grand Scheme: Government Retirement Insurance, funded half by the worker and half by the employer (sound familiar?) the proceeds were so great that Germany was able to industrialize enough to present a real challenge to France and Britain (1914, anyone?) Retirement for the worker was at age 70–how many Germans lived to age 70? Later, in 1916, lowered to 65.Other nations were learning–Britain, left so bankrupt by WWI that they at one time tried to sell Canada to the U.S.–the bankers blocked that, preferring to earn interest on British war bonds–instituted their version of Soc Sec in the 1920s, and were soon so flush they could put the pound sterling back on the gold standard.Along came that Great Snake, Franklin Roosevelt, may his soul burn for eternity. Seeing the positive (?) effect a retirement scheme had for Germany and Britain, he pushed through Soc Sec, seeking to use the excess funds to develop his dream of an American socialist Utopia.And we have the result today.cap’n chumbucket