Your argument works if one was to accept your definitions.

You can "see" SS and the benefits paid out by the SS Trust as whatever you want, but that doesn't make it so.

I would also support a means test for SS benefits, only because the trust will either be insolvent or benefits cut to the point of being meaningless otherwise.

But I also know that's never going to happen because rich old people carry a ton of political weight.

So I, like you, don't plan on seeing anything from the SS trust to fund my retirement. Worst case is I just turn to a life of crime if I need to.
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She was standin' alone over by the juke box, like she'd something to sell.
I said "baby, what's the goin' price?" She told me to go to hell.

Bon Scott - Shot Down in Flames