We see the projection a lot: The Social Security Trust Fund will be exhausted in 2036! Benefits will be reduced 25%!
If you're like most people, you grunt and move along. Because really : 2036? Won't there be an awful lot of much more important stuff that goes down between now and then?
To which, the only possible response: Duuh!
What are the really important issues?
Food, energy, civil order. The stuff that determines the basic question : Will we be alive in 2036? (For those of us over 50, this may be seconday, but put a younger friend in your place)
What can we expect over 25 years?
2012-2016: The safest bet is always more of the same. Still, there are a few risks. We may or may not already be at war with Iran. If we are, expect an oil crisis. Don't expect a return to full employment - that would just lead to an even bigger oil crisis. The class war is on, and we'll probably continue to lose. World Population 2016: 7.5 billion
2017-2021: I see wars. Lots of them. Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Canada. The usual. (We lose. Did you know we've already invaded Canada 3 times? Lost them all.) Pop 2021: 8 billion
2022-2026: With total crop failure over Africa, the US reestablishes dominion. Pop 2026: 7 billion (Huge famine, but we didn't notice)
2027-2031 : China briefly takes over completely. We all get manufactuing jobs. Not in factories, with jackknifes. President Bristol Palin again attacks Canada. We lose, again. Pop 2031: 8 billion
2032-2036: Flood, fire & famine. Doom, defeat & despair. Rich Lowry takes National Review cruise to North Pole-Featured topic: Global Cooling.Pop 2036: 4 billion
So, picking your way through the wreckage, fighting your neighbor for that last chicken bone, remember: It could have been worse. Social Security could have gone into deficit in 2035.