Benefit cuts are coming one way or another for SS. What has to be decided is who loses and how much. Raising the age limit is one of the worst options. Its fine for a white collar person but I saw what blue collar work did to my male family members who worked in the forests and mills. My Dad was lucky, he moved into management before he couldn't work anymore, long before 65. That is why my Australian friend's father's thoughts are important. Personally, one being allowed to choose between private mutual funds the SS agency manages would be a good thing, if done correctly. But just turning it over to anyone to manage as self directed account would be terrible.

I can't fault you on Johnson's disengenousness nor will I defend it. It isn't a perfect world we live in, nor will it ever be. But I maintain it is easy to see thru his disengenousness which is a problem he will face in the debates if we can get to 15%.  But his ideas/policies are radically different than what the other two offer