George Will on the Entitlement Crisis

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/09/AR2010040904000_pf.html

Asked how the nation might address the projected $17.5 trillion in unfunded Social Security liabilities, Rubio said that we should consider two changes for people 10 or more years from retirement. One would raise the retirement age. The other would alter the calculation of benefits: Indexing them to inflation rather than wage increases would substantially reduce the system's unfunded liabilities.

Neither idea startles any serious person. But Crist, with the reflex of the unreflective, rejected both and said that he would fix Social Security by eliminating "waste" and "fraud," of which there is little. The system's problems are the result not of incompetent administration but of improvident promises made by Congress.

Will hits it on the head. The real answer is to phase out all welfare programs especially Social Security. But we will have to experience total collapse before this is seriously considered.

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