Let's make this a teachable moment!

Social Security isn't just a retirement program, though it's a great one. It's a complex social program. It’s arguably the most successful government program of any government, of all time. /1

Social Security involves massive subsidies from the next generation of retirees to this one, from single workers to married couples, from two-earner couples to one-earner couples, from high-income earners to low.. /2

…from the able-bodied to the disabled, and from those who die early to those who die late. It's a massive redistribution of income to those who need it the most. /3

That's why some people hate it. And Wall Street hates it, because they would rather be taking a cut of all that money than have the government handle if for free.

But pretty much everyone else loves it. /4

Social Security provides benefits to 65 million Americans – 1 in every 5 – and not only to retired workers but also to the spouses and dependents of workers who die prematurely and to disabled workers and their dependents /5

In 1935, after bank failures and a stock market crash had wiped out the savings of millions of Americans, the country turned to Washington to guarantee the nation's elderly a decent income. /6

Social Security worked. It works. So promising to cut off its funding… is war 7/7