Join the club, dude. I put in $450k. At $2k per month, the principal will be returned in 225 months, or 18 years and 9 months. Then the interest on money held for over 50 years should kick in, at age 80+. Social Security isn't a "ponzi scheme". The government should be way AHEAD, given actuarial tables, on any worker that sacrificed a portion of their pay for a minimum of 20 years, which is of course the large majority. What is bankrupting Social Security is that it has been turned into a welfare program for various disenfranchised folk.

I'm not against helping people out, but the USA already HAS a benefit program for the poor, colloquially called "welfare". Why all aid to the disenfranchised isn't put under ONE umbrella, which would obviate the need for dual workforces to review each case (retirees take almost no review service as the records are plain to see from all sides, beneficiary, employers and government) is the result of bureaucracy.

In any case, you're correct. The Social Security retiree program is a giant money producer for the government. It is outright thievery for those forced to comply.