maybe clear to you, but I fail to see how you can negate the earned income factor... and any skewing to lower income is consistent with current tax rates. The poor still come up short meeting basic needs.

My mom once worked for woman who had married a wealthy, older man... her survivor's benefit was quite nice, what my mom would take 6 months to collect... she used it to treat "the girls" to a monthly lunch at a posh restaurant.

And you failed to mention that the benefits are still taxed on between 50 and 85 percent of the gross distribution, depending on total income.