Maybe "Tin-Plated" Is More Like It

In this post titled "The Sacred Cow of Social Security," Andrew Sullivan links to a WaPo op-ed and comments:

Amity Shlaes does us all a favor by reminding us of the actual purpose of social security: in FDR's words, to provide "some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family." That's it. Not total security. Not a total guarantee that the gold-plated benefits of the late-century will keep growing and growing. And not a peg to wages rather than prices, linking retirees to current wage-earners rather than actual needs.

Well. Thanks to my relatively high earnings, I have been contributing the maximum to my Social Security account for the last twenty years. If I continue to do so until I retire in twelve years, I can expect to receive monthly benefits of $2,205--a bit over $26,000 per year.

By Andrew Sullivan's standard, that is a "gold-plated" lifestyle.