Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme. We can do nothing, and it collapses the country.
Or, we can treat is as a huge machine with many many levers. If we can show everyone that if we simultaneously reef down hard on all the levers, we can change its essence from a Ponzi Scheme to Welfare For Old People Who Will Otherwise Starve, we might have a chance of saving bits of it.
Politically, it will be hard to do anything. I predict 0bama will disavow his panel’s recommendations within 24 hours.
SS and Medicare need this:
1. Anyone under the age of 50 can't retire until they are 70. Medicare benefits at 70 too.
2. Means tested for both. If you have $1mil in assets (or some number) or "x" amount of income from some other source, you're no longer eligible.
3. If you're not old and poor, you don't get SS...no more SS for anything that's not age/means related. Move all others to different programs and manage the fraud and excess out of those.
Eliminate Medicaide. The states will take up the burden, or they won't. Just get the Feds out of it.
I suggest that would save $1tril/yr.
If they're like me, who has paid into that system for FORTY years, they might find the title a little offensive.