"We can never ensure 100 percent of the population against 100 percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age."

... Franklin D. Roosevelt, signing the Social Security Act, Aug. 14, 1935

In order to fix Social Security for generations to come, we should remember the intent of generations past.

Social Security was not meant as an investment or a lifestyle enhancer. It was an insurance policy, and a rather bare bones one at that, simply to preserve some independence and dignity for the increasing number of Americans who were actually living long enough to retire. Unfortunately, it is in serious financial trouble.

The latest calculations suggest that we have until 2037 to do something so that the Social Security system doesn't go broke. That's 27 years to work with, but it is easier to fix now. Washington needs to take a deep breath and do this.

The U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging the other day trotted out a dozen options, without endorsing any of them, for consideration. They include such steps as reducing future benefits, or at least slowing the rate at which they grow, increasing payroll taxes, pushing back the retirement age and subjecting some or all of the income that is now exempt from Social Security taxes to paying them.

Of the choices offered, increasing the payroll tax from the current 6.2 percent to a

proposed 7.3 percent, or by any amount, is by far the most odious. For those who earn upwards of $106,800 a year ... the point at which the payroll tax stops ... that seemingly small increase would amount to an additional $1,174.80 taken from their pockets each year. The corresponding tax on employers, in this precarious economy, is also a bad idea. Adding new taxes or increasing old ones is a mistake. Taxes are never rescinded.

Among the other choices, two are obvious, and far less painful. Social Security payments rise each year with inflation rate. Reducing that increase by one percentage point and increasing the age of retirement to 68 could solve the problem. People are living longer and retiring later. Raising the age of retirement is the most logical and least harmful option.

Another option that could be considered is increasing the amount of money that is subject to the Social Security payroll tax. Right now, workers and their employers are taxed only on incomes up to the aforementioned cap of $106,800 a year. Every dollar earned above that level is exempt, which means that the person who earns $106,800 pays the same amount toward keeping Social Security in business as the person who made $1.06 million.

Just as Americans are living longer, so has inflation rendered the existing cap less

effective. If necessary, Congress could consider raising it.

As President Ronald Reagan and Congress understood in the 1980s ... the last time Social Security had to be saved ... it is much better and politically safer to hand the task off to an ideologically balanced blue-ribbon panel that can evaluate the options and make recommendations, free from electoral pressures. That's how Washington should proceed on this, with action completed before the end of President Obama's term.

While we are at it, it would be a good idea to make sure that future Social Security

balances aren't borrowed away by the Treasury, used to mask the true size of federal deficits, unless the trust fund gets some real interest income out of the deal.

Medicare, which pays for the skyrocketing cost of health care for seniors, will be a much harder nut to crack. Fix Social Security first, and it will be a little bit easier.