One of the blessings of modern times is: We all live longer. And that is why Social Security is going bust.
Back in 1936, when the Social Security system was set up by the Roosevelt administration, life expectancy was 63 years. Now, 83 years later, in 2019, life expectancy is 80 years. Social Security is going broke and we need to fix the system.
The wrong way to do it is to raise the Social Security tax; it is politically unacceptable. Another wrong way would be to reduce monthly payments to recipients, also politically unacceptable.
The right way to fix the Social Security problem is to reduce the number of people collecting benefits and to increase the number of people paying into the system. And that can be done by simply raising the retirement age to something more realistic. If Congress would raise the retirement age by one year, every five years or so, Social Security would eventually become solvent again.
It’s as simple as that: more people paying into the system and fewer people collecting from the system.
