On Golden Pond

Protecting Social Security

Since 1935, Social Security has been the greatest social program America ever devised.  It uses multi-generational funding, where deductions from today's workers pay for our retirees, because there is no liquid cash in the Social Security Trust Fund -- just Treasury IOU's.  Ideally, we would have saved the retirees' money and used that to fund their retirement, but we didn't -- we spent it.  So, now we have to devise a sustainable program faced with the prospect of more retirees and fewer workers.  In 2036, Social Security goes bankrupt.  Fortunately, it's an easy fix.  All we have to do is capitalize on our ever-lengthening lifespans and gradually raise the eligibility age to 70 by 2036, while adjusting the cap on taxable annual income -- currently at ~$106,000 -- to achieve solvency.