There is a way to save these programs.
The government has many programs that funnel money to the same program education is one of many.
About half the departments in D.C. should be shut down many do the same operation a vast waste of money some hacks keep adding departments for the sake of another election win.
No business in the world could exist if it operated like D.C..
Natural death rates and an increase in the eligibility age for benefits would "fix" Social Security. That is a best case, and it will never happen. The reason is because the House and Senate would need to cast recorded votes to make that happen, and the named representatives who cast votes for such measures would become targets for retaliation.
I don't mean retaliation through "elections" either.
The easy way out is to let inflation effectively reduce the value of Social Security benefits. The government can always print more money to make the checks clear. That is what they are doing. They can always blame the resulting inflation on "greedy corporations", or "the bankers", or "hoarders" and "wreckers". Or Donald Trump.