It is unfortunate that these articles present the situation in this manner, because polls consistently show that many people wrongly believe that the fund will not be able to pay them any benefits. The Post article includes several other significant misrepresentations. It implies that the main problem of the program is the demographic bulge associated with the baby boomers. In fact, the baby boomers' retirement will be largely covered by the surplus the fund is currently accumulating. The real long-term problem facing the program is simply that people are projected to live longer.
Longer lives mean longer retirements, which cost more money.
This informative article analyzes the Social Security proposal put forward by presidential candidate George W. Bush. At one point, it notes that Bush's aides defended their projections on stock returns by saying that the Social Security trustees economic predictions were too gloomy. It is worth noting that if his aides believe the trustees economic predictions are overly pessimistic, then they also must believe that the program is even healthier than the latest trustees report indicates. These articles discuss George W. Bush's proposal to replace a portion of Social Security with individual accounts. They all imply that it will be possible to get significantly higher returns in the future in the stock market than in government bonds.