Social Security is not a company pension (and by the way lots of companies have reneged on their pension obligations). The money you and I have paid in all these years is not ours and was used to pay those who preceded us. Some of them paid in over 40 years as we did, and many did not. It also paid for widows, disabled citizens and children. Social Security has enough reserves and enough anticipated future income to continue to pay full benefits for another 25 plus years. It does not contribute to the deficit as it is actually right now operating at a profit when you combine the contributions and the income generated by the invested assets. The well runs dry in about 2036. There is not any crisis in Social Security. With no adjustments it can pay 75% of its promised benefits after 2036 until 2085. With minor tweaks it can pay 100% forever.
The crisis is in Medicare which none of us paid enough into to make the claim we are owed it because of our investment. A recent analysis finds that the average person retiring in 2011 has paid only 1/3 of the cost of their medical care. The number is less for those who retired earlier as they had fewer years of paying into medicare.
http://www.cleveland.com/nation/inde...rees_paid.html
Social Security is safe and should be left alone. We need to be realistic about Medicare being an unsustainable program in its current configuration. Either the benefits need to be cut or the payments into the system increased. Sorry for the long post.