Please reread your statement. You said, "...when you reach the lofty pay of $142,600 you no longer pay into Social Security..." , which to me read that once you make more than $142K you don't pay SS at ALL.

Which isn't the case. You paid the maximum amount due.

That said, I also agreed that the cap is a bit bogus. In fact, I seem to remember reading somewhere that simply removing the cap would "fix" SS.