This means that if big changes aren't implemented soon, by the time Generation X retires, Social Security will be a distant memory. Others see government-supervised privatization as the way to go, holding up the Chilean system as an example of privatization at work. To stymie the cancer that has hold of this program, taxes have to go up or benefits have to go down. Either way, the public loses. It's what you'd call a political hot potato.
Nobody wants to tackle it.
It's such a big problem because you can't come up with a solution that's going to make everybody happy. But the fight continues. And by staggering the payment period over the course of the month, a change that took effect on May 1 of this year, there is no longer a monthly peak program expenditure. But even then, Lamoureux is optimistic. The baby boomers will set a new standard, as they do for everything.