From the inception of Social Security in 1935, politicians have encouraged people to think of the system as similar to private pensions. Private pension plans that invest a person's contributions in secure, interest-bearing instruments do not go broke. Tax revenues plus interest on the trust funds will be inadequate to pay the promised benefits by the year 2019. Dollars In, Dollars Out.
Every dollar collected in payroll taxes is spent immediately.
No investment is made in real assets. These are trust funds in name only, consisting of IOUs the government has written to itself. In the future, we will need to impose more and higher taxes in order to pay promised benefits. And that's the problem. Everyone who will be 65 years of age or older in the year 2060 is already alive today.