“The reality is it’s not an entitlement. Congress can change the rules of what we will get at any time.”

That’s the Mercatus Center’s Veronique de Rugy, quite possibly the most fabulously-named economist…ever. She’s talking to Bloomberg TV about why Social Security is “broken.”

Not “broke,” although that’s true in a way (and getting more true in more ways the longer we go on). But “broken.” The dirty little secret being: it was broken from the day it was born. As columnist Star Parker put it a few years ago:

If Social Security did not exist, and we attempted to enact today a system like we currently have, would it pass? The answer is unquestionably no. There is no way that any working American would agree to turn over to the government 12.4 percent of his or her paycheck in exchange for a benefit that has no guarantee, on which ownership has been relinquished and that is less than what could be obtained by buying risk-free government bonds.

Word.

I unfortunately can’t embed the video, but you can watch it on the Mercatus Society website, or on YouTube. your pick. Hat tip Instapundit.