Social Security’s Non-Crisis
The constantly criticized worker/beneficiary ratio is a load of garbage as an argument for the unsustainability of the system. Here's a historical chart of the ratio (source):
By that argument, there should have been a crisis in about 1960 when the ratio fell by half from 8:1 to 4:1. But there wasn't. The only adjustment needed was in 1983 to fund it for the forseeable future - and it worked for nearly thirty years, since 2009 is the first year since then which has a deficit on the account.
The exactly on-schedule declines to 3:1 and 2:1 won't break the bank, either. Projected from now through 2080, Social Security's income will be above 75% of its outlays; we need only the sort of minor tweak as was done in 1983 to make up the difference. One adjustment every 30 years is a pretty good deal for a program this big.