How Can the U.S. Salvage Social Security?

A&Q is a special series that inverts the classic Q&A, taking some of the most frequently posed solutions to pressing matters of policy and exploring their complexity.

Social Security, the intergenerational transfer of wealth that’s supposed to prevent poverty among the elderly, turns 81 this year. And it’s not in good shape. The culprit: demographic shifts.

For much of the last century, taxes were collected from the paychecks of workers and distributed to retirees, who had already given to the system while they were working. The problem is that the ratio of American workers to American retirees has been falling for decades, and since 2010 Social Security has been running on a deficit in the billions. For now, there’s enough in its reserves, from annual surpluses from 1984 to 2010, to cover the gap. But this won’t last forever. In its , the Social