Young people won t be left empty-handed unless they vote to let that happen. The problems are fixable, with incremental change in benefits, taxes and, eventually, borrowing. Many reformers have Social Security s basic premise in their cross hairs. They d prefer a smaller fixed benefit plus a personal investment account. Income taxes would help pay Social Security s future obligations, so that part of today s payroll taxes could go into private accounts.
Private accounts are an entirely separate question.
But payroll taxes keep coming in. Those payroll taxes alone could finance 72 percent of current Social Security benefits, to young and old alike. As gazillions of technical experts point out, it doesn t take huge adjustments in taxes and benefits to cover the rest of the bill. Only bores complain. The Social Security trust fund isn t just a joke, as some naysayers neigh.