Just thought I'd add that little nugget you seem to have forgotten.
Please understand, I'm not saying social security and medicare are good things. I am saying that it is unfair to expect those who paid into those systems their whole lives to just walk away from that money.
Personally, I'd like to see the money that is SUPPOSED to be in those two programs for those who are still working given to those individuals to invest as they see fit. Of course, we'd have to cut other things to fund social security and medicare for those already on them. I imagine we could do so pretty easily if people of sound mind were given the chance. (Foreign aid, particularly to Islamic and communist nations comes to mind, as does welfare for those who can work but won't.)
We haven’t paid into anything. It’s an unsustainable, income tax based welfare program. Current tax revenue goes to pay current retirees. The rest get blown by the government and replaced by promises to tax future generations.
Being almost 45, I’ll never see a dime of it. Welcome to my boat - save or work until you die.
The money to pay projected retirees won’t come from trimming the budget here and there. The amounts are in the tens of Trillions of dollars, although in today’s economy that magnitude doesn’t seem to mean much anymore.