I completely agree. I'm among those planning to at least semi-retire in the next 15-20 years, but we can't continue to kick the can down the road. A gradual fix might be much more tolerable than a sudden one.
As this topic could likely be political suicide, any discussion has to be prefaced by a disclaimer that no currently-retired people will be affected. Democrats and the MSM would love for any Republican hopefuls to come out and say they agree in principal to entitlement reform. They want to paint the GOP as the party "stealing" Social Security from the elderly.
I will get hit hard by this too. I’m in the roughly 45 to 60 age bracket that paid in and most likely will have my benefits reduced or retirement age increased and I’m OK with that as long as its part of an overall plan that spreads the pain.
The idea that “I paid in so my benefits shouldn’t be touched” is unrealistic. I paid in so that people who are now dead could live on more than they saved. That money is gone. No one has it. The “government” doesn’t have some big pot of money they can open up to keep my benefits going. And even if we cut Welfare and Food Stamps, which we should, it won’t come close to paying for current benefit levels.