Only adjustments in spending patterns can pay for those commitments. Short-term fixes to increase revenue or reduce benefits will be unsuccessful in the long run. The system design itself is fatally flawed and cannot be repaired. It must instead be replaced by one derived from free markets and operated by a free citizenry making individual economic decisions in their own self-interest. The choice remaining is between continuing to support a bankrupt system and building a financially sound structure for the future.
Reform is long overdue.
If we fail to act soon, our children will either inherit a bankrupt system or be forced to pay an impossibly high level of taxes. Only private pensions with individual property rights to accumulated fund balances can create a secure pension system. Chile, which privatized its system in 1981, provides evidence of such a system's effectiveness. Chile's new system has been both successful and popular, but it stops short of full privatization. A much bolder approach is called for.