In the NY Times someone talks some sense on the Social Security Mess:

To repair Social Security, we have to be clear about what’s
destroying it. We’ll soon be taking more money out of the system than
we’re putting into it, which means that one day it will go broke. In
1945 there were about 42 workers paying into the system for each person
receiving benefits. Today that ratio is 3.3 to 1, and by 2040, there
will be just two workers for each beneficiary.
At the same
time, Americans are living longer. That’s good news, but it means
retirees will receive benefits for longer, putting further pressure on
the fund. Americans are also having fewer children, which means fewer
workers will be paying the taxes that help finance benefits.
Furthermore,
benefits are growing faster than inflation. First-time Social Security
benefits are now tied to wage growth, and wages are rising faster than
prices. The result: over the next 75 years, benefits are expected to
increase nearly eighteenfold, while prices will go up less than half
that rate. In order to keep pace, our children and their children will
have to work longer hours and pay more taxes. Between now and 2080,
benefits will most likely exceed payroll taxes by $120 trillion.
How
do we get out of this mess? To preserve the system for the long term,
we must change the way first-time benefits are calculated. Growth in
initial benefits should be linked to the consumer price index – not to
wage growth.

A simple and excellent idea, indexing benefits to prices not wages. We did the same here a number of years ago and while it’s led to moaning over the value of the pension, it has stopped us going broke.
The sad thing about this outbreak of good sense is the following:

John Kasich, a Republican representative from Ohio from 1983 to 2000, was chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Why is it always retired politicians who are capable of speaking the obvious truths?