Social Security:

Background & Research, Proposals & Commentary

— Robert Eisner, The Century Foundation Press, 1998 • DOWNLOAD PDF •

“What is true of government as a whole is also true of particular programs. Social Security and Medicare are government programs; they cannot go bankrupt, and they cannot fail to meet their obligations unless Congress decides–say on the recommendation of the Simpson-Bowles Commission–to cut the benefits they provide.

The exercise of linking future benefits and projected payroll tax revenues is an accounting farce, done for political reasons. That farce was started by FDR as a way of protecting Social Security from cuts. But it has become a way of creating needless anxiety about these programs and of precluding sensible reforms, like expanding Medicare to those 55 and older, or even to the whole population.”
— James K. Galbraith In Defense of Deficits March 4, 2010

As Social Security and Medicare are tightly linked, see Medicare here.