[andyfox]

There is no guarantee as to what you will get out; future Congresses will decide. Nor is there a guarantee as to when you can get it. Thus the idea that you are putting in X to get out Y is a scam.

The idea of the trust fund is also a scam. The government, in the period from Reagan to Clinton, spent $1,700,000,000,000 of the social security "trust fund" on other things.

And the idea that it is helping those in need is a scam, in that the socail security tax is a regresssive tax that hits those who can least afford it the hardest.

If we define a scam as something that is presented as something other than what it is, social security would seem to fit the definition.