Living on Social Security 004: The Ponzi Scheme

Today's Social Security story comes from the Hickory Record of North Carolina. The article gives us a nice story of a couple who were scammed by a Bernie Madoff type. Hundreds of people invested in this scammer and now he's behind bars. The Hickory Record talks about how this one couple's finances are now tight because they lost so much money:

Brenda and Gary Sigmon carefully budget how much they will spend on groceries each month. They live on their Social Security checks and say it’s a delicate balancing act, having to save money for gasoline, homeowner insurance and taxes at the end of the year.

Wait.  I'm confused.  If they've paid into Social Security for years how come they are getting back so little?  Why is it such a balancing act?  The article goes on to say that the scammer spent the money on all kinds of lavish things and wasted it all.  Sounds bad right?  What about the Social Security money though?  Where has it all gone?  Do the Sigmons know that their check is NOT coming out of a trust fund but out of the general operating budget?  How about we start talking about the REAL PONZI SCHEME here.