A hard rain is gonna fall.

So far, I like the approach of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. He seems to be a straight shooter, perhaps a bit cautious, but avoids being as tedious as his predecessor, Alan Greenspn. When it comes to the elephant in the room, he and Greenspan called it the same way: Social Security / Medicare is in need of major change.

Bush tried to promote "privatization" as a solution, and based on my understanding of the proposal, I believe it might have helped. The problem with privatization, and the reason it will never happen as Bush presented it was that it was way too complicated. Most Americans struggled to understand how it worked, and if they couldn't understand it, they couldn't trust it. The President, with all due respect, has difficulty articulating and selling relatively simple ideas; privatization was way harder to explain than the current program:

Pay some taxes, now - get some checks and medical benefits, later.

There is a simple solution, though painful enough that whoever proposes or endorses it will not get reelected:

Raise the retirement age, significantly.

One of the recommendations of the Greenspan Commission, in 1983, was to raise the age from 65 to 67. This change will be implemented.....eventually. It was a small step in the right direction. I propose that by raising the age to 75, or better yet, 80, Social Security will serve it's original purpose of protecting the elderly, while forcing a much simpler form of "privatization" on those who are not yet old enough to collect: you either live off savings or keep working - no Federally administered "privatized" accounts are needed.

Best of all, my proposal maintains the marketing beauty of the the current program:

Pay some taxes, now - get some checks and medical benefits, (even) later.