The SSA had actually been collecting 'extra' money (from Baby Boomers) for awhile now and putting off to the side, but that extra income stopped a while ago, and the trust fund where it was stored was being tapped to keep benefits up.
The "shortage" in Social Security that is sometimes in the US news is the estimated time when the 'extra' funds run out, and benefits will only be covered in cashflows.
And this is not sudden thing: many government pension systems in the world are facing similar situations. The politicians in the US have not done anything about (for decades), whereas Canada did decide to change their system:
> when the 'extra' funds run out, and benefits will only be covered in cashflows
The issue is that the necessary delivered services is a kinda fixed amount that the economy should deliver. The economy can't really "save" money. A government can choose to change taxes, change benefits, sell assets (to who?), or burden the next generation with debts (e.g. via mortgages).
Talking about money between generations is often just fictional accounting.
The US has done something about it, they raised the retirement age to 67. But that was more of a band aid.
The real solution is to raise the maximum SSA payment or eliminate it all together.
That said, even if the government does nothing, it's not as if SSA goes away. Instead, the payments are reduced (Last I saw, it was around 75% of current payments). That'd suck, for sure, but it's not the all or nothing framing.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Trust_Fund
The SSA had actually been collecting 'extra' money (from Baby Boomers) for awhile now and putting off to the side, but that extra income stopped a while ago, and the trust fund where it was stored was being tapped to keep benefits up.
The "shortage" in Social Security that is sometimes in the US news is the estimated time when the 'extra' funds run out, and benefits will only be covered in cashflows.
And this is not sudden thing: many government pension systems in the world are facing similar situations. The politicians in the US have not done anything about (for decades), whereas Canada did decide to change their system:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_Pension_Plan#1998_refor...
Other countries are facing debates (France, Denmark, etc).