Well, it goes to fund the system overall, but doesn't really increase the amount other people get (other than to offset future inability to pay from instability of the institution). It is a socialistic institution, and there are other financial products that don't pay out after you die (annuities), so it's not entirely unique in that respect.
Also, having items only go to your spouse isn't entirely without precedent. How your assets are distributed when you die is handled differently in different states, but if all your children are from your spouse at the time of death, I think generally the assets all go to the spouse.[1]
> In that way Social Security seems like other insurance in that payouts are not earned and you're getting other people's money.
Consider savings accounts or money market at banks. They don't put your money in a vault and keep it there while it magically grows, they invest it, and the money of yours they invested may be completely wiped out at any time, but they offset that by other people's deposits and profits on other investments. Whose money you ultimately get out is irrelevant, as it is with every financial product. What you get in all cases is governed by an algorithm of some sort (even if it includes as a variable how a specific item performed as one or more of many variables, such as fees).
> Similarly, if an insured house burns down, we'd say the policy holder is entitled to a payout, not that they earned it.
Yes, but we wouldn't say that is handled through "entitlements", which colloquially means something entirely different when used to refer to items related to the government. Specifically, it refers not to the "the amount to which a person has a right" but to the other possible meaning, which is "the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment". In that respect, I don't think it's all that accurate to refer to Social Security as an entitlement, since the connotation is somewhat inaccurate in my eyes.
Well, it goes to fund the system overall, but doesn't really increase the amount other people get (other than to offset future inability to pay from instability of the institution). It is a socialistic institution, and there are other financial products that don't pay out after you die (annuities), so it's not entirely unique in that respect.
Also, having items only go to your spouse isn't entirely without precedent. How your assets are distributed when you die is handled differently in different states, but if all your children are from your spouse at the time of death, I think generally the assets all go to the spouse.[1]
> In that way Social Security seems like other insurance in that payouts are not earned and you're getting other people's money.
Consider savings accounts or money market at banks. They don't put your money in a vault and keep it there while it magically grows, they invest it, and the money of yours they invested may be completely wiped out at any time, but they offset that by other people's deposits and profits on other investments. Whose money you ultimately get out is irrelevant, as it is with every financial product. What you get in all cases is governed by an algorithm of some sort (even if it includes as a variable how a specific item performed as one or more of many variables, such as fees).
> Similarly, if an insured house burns down, we'd say the policy holder is entitled to a payout, not that they earned it.
Yes, but we wouldn't say that is handled through "entitlements", which colloquially means something entirely different when used to refer to items related to the government. Specifically, it refers not to the "the amount to which a person has a right" but to the other possible meaning, which is "the belief that one is inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment". In that respect, I don't think it's all that accurate to refer to Social Security as an entitlement, since the connotation is somewhat inaccurate in my eyes.
1: https://estate.findlaw.com/wills/what-happens-if-i-die-witho...