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They did pay for themselves, they paid taxes for 40-50 years (some began working at 15 and didn't stop till 65!) to "buy into" the system.
See exactly, your complaint is theirs. "I'm afraid I won't get the due I've been told I'll get in exchange for my taxes now". It's just that you personally don't want that potential risk so you want the rug pull to happen earlier to your parents generations.
Which is why really, we should have been ratcheting up the retirement age more as people have been able to work into old age more often. The US is able to get away with this way easier than the typical pension countries even since the idea of social security was always a buy in into an insurance for people who can not work any longer whether that be from infirmity or seniority. But the latter especially is far less crippling nowadays so it's far less of a rug pull to ratchet the age requirements up. But pushing up age requirements upsets the current workers too! The 50 year old is thinking "I gotta work for 18 more years and not 15? That's bullshit" and gets angry because again everyone knows they gonna get old
No, they paid for the people receiving benefits when they were working. They didn't pay for themselves. Now workers are paying for them.
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