Why hasn't that happened yet? Also, the government is going to continue indefinitely printing money whether or not we have social security.

It has, inflation is rising rapidly in no small part due to the gov printing money to cover its obligations, of which social security is one of the largest and will only become larger as the cost of living increases due to said inflation- a vicious cycle. If contributions don't cover the payouts (which they don't, and never will unless you tax the younger generations to death) then the difference has to be made up with printing, which will of course cause inflation

You are right that they will continue printing money regardless, and at this point it's too late for a 20% reduction to fix anything. Might as well just take the checks while you can and make the most of it, not much else you can do. But that doesn't mean its sustainable or will last forever.

But social security has been a constant ~20% of spending for 50 years. Inflation has not been constant at all during that time, and has even dipped below 0. How is that possible if social security is a major contributor to inflation?

> inflation is rising rapidly in no small part due to the gov printing money to cover its obligations

“US Inflation Rate is at 3.70%, compared to 3.67% last month and 8.20% last year. This is higher than the long term average of 3.28%.”

I would hardly call something that’s only slightly above average (and less than half of what it was a year ago) as “rising rapidly“.

https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_inflation_rate

They've been throwing money left and right for years, they can throw some when we are unable to work.