gross national injustice! I hate to drop the subject, but it's time to go back to disagreeing. Let's talk about Social Security, which we haven't heard much about during the campaign. I have a suspicion that Mitt Romney and President Obama aren't actually all that far apart on this one -- and they are equally unwilling to let us see what they're thinking. Paul Ryan, meanwhile, is on an entirely different planet. In the past he's called Social Security "collectivist" and "a welfare transfer system." Perhaps that's one of the reasons the campaign is so unwilling to let Ryan be Ryan. David : I don't know. It seems to me that Ryan has been pretty sensible about Social Security. Plus, he had the courage to go to AARP and make his case. When future generations curse us for bankrupting them, I suspect they will view AARP as the epicenter of 21 st -century greed. Gail :  My ideal road map for getting Social Security on a secure footing for the very long term would be to lift the cap. Right now the payroll tax applies only to an individual's first $110,100 in income. End the cap, end the problem. David : Don't forget about the need to raise the retirement age. That's only fair. Gail :  The retirement age for maximum benefits is currently 66, on its way to 67. I think raising it further would be dumb. People may be living longer but often they don't have the option