I'll answer you because I've been through this process before.
When I started paying into social security, they talked about the baby boomers but nothing had been done. Eventually they came up with the fix to end all fixes and raised the retirment age. Everyone screamed, pols got booted out of office, but it stuck because it was the fix to end all fixes.
Now here we are again, looking for a fix.
Why would I support the fix that didn't work last time rather than the current proposal? Because I personally feel the alternative will cost us more and give us less in return, and deep down inside based on what I've seen I think someone is crooked and trying to screw us. They need a better proposal before I'll support it.
The current system will go into the red (according to current predictions) by 2018. We can either come up with a lower-cost solution now (like what is currently being discussed, and which has worked in Great Britain, Chile, and other places) or we can begin raising taxes on everybody to pay out the promised benefits, or some portion thereof.
Where is the crook? Who is crooked? Who is trying to screw "us" and what are they trying to gain?
Any person living a normal life span will withdraw many times more than he contributes. That's not a retirement plan, it's wealth transfer.
The only REAL fix is privitization or drastic payment cuts coupled with means testing. Anything else is delaying the day of reckoning, something we've done too many times in the past.
FMCDH(BITS)
"They need a better proposal before I'll support it."
Please provide the text, or link to the proposal you reference.