As someone who has retired parents and who has a couple of decades before my own retirement I've been studying Social Security pretty close. I think the point has been well made that when Social Security was created the life span of individuals was around 67 so the sustainability was there. However, in today's environment there are few company pensions and the small percentage of people saving for retirement aren't even close to saving enough to last through retirement years. These individuals, both retired and on the way to retirement, are relying heavily on their Social Security checks. As an adviser this is a very scary situation.
Please take the time to read this article from the Wall Street Journal.