Well, you know, We the People CAN Rule OUT Hoyer, Pelosi AND Boehner, first! They're retirement age is This YEAR!! Take NO Incumbents!!!

While some 70-yr-olds are very capable, a lot of them physically cannot hold a regular job. My friends and I are in our 60s, and we're falling apart now (most likely due to the crap we Americans call food). I doubt the current generation of overweight video gamers will last to 70 anyway.

We need some better suggestions from politicians who enjoy free quality benefits while the rest of us are going to pot.

At present, they need to LOWER the age of eligibility for SS benefits since the middle-aged are being pre-retired in higher-than-ever numbers and discriminated against in the current workforce.

But, what would be even more intelligent, but too beyond the ability of our crop of clowns in Washington, is what they are discussing in Europe: a Guaranteed Minimum Wage, and for all citizens. Which would fundamentally restructure our economy, and, also coupled with opening up an improved and expanded Medicare for all Americans.

This would make any form of welfare or social security and its administration obsolete and unnecessary.

Let's step into the future for a change. Rather than the past.

Retirement age should be industry-specific. Me, writing/typing or sitting increative marketing conversations at an air cooled agency at 70 is a lot different than if I were standing all day as a clerk, driving dangerous heavy equipment, hammering on construction projects in the sun.

And of course, assumes physical and mental health, altho 40 and 50 and even 20 somethings can have health problems that seriously undermine work quality.

And if we geezers hang on, how do people in the middle get promotions... or college grads find entry jobs?

65 vs 70 may not make a big difference to society... but by holding my generation in employee positions, we may force young people to create entrepreneurial gigs online or in the street.

The young, of course, have no conception as to what they're plotting for them, since they have no conception of a body doing as it will, even in spite of their best efforts. We age, things start to happen. You don't really fully comprehend until you go through it; or maybe you've had a parent who struggle with health issues related to aging and working or not working at the same time. Or just not finding work because they've crossed that invisible line.

And there's David Plouffe plotting out the reelection of shiny and glossy Barack Obama by appealing to first time voters who they are in the process of screwing.

Our government -- not really ours -- is a disgrace.

Tell them to get out of Afghanistan and to stop wasting money on politicians salaries and benefits.

When are we going to talk about drastically CUTTING the MILITARY BUDGET instead of INCREASING it every year!!! No more cuts to anything until that is cut FIRST!!

First raise the age for Congress to collect their pensions to age 70! This will never happen.

The wealthy have looted the Social Security trust fund, and do not wish to pay higher taxes to repay the bonds. Also, they wish to continue to collect payroll taxes from the working class in order to fund other government programs, such as our wars without end.

The article states that Hoyer talked about putting everything on the table. Everything that is except for investigating our Government for stealing and spending the Social Security surplus for decades. Everything except for raising the Social Security tax limit to include those that make over $109,000 a year so that they pay the same percentage in Social Security as everyone who makes less than that. Everything except for lowering the cost of our way overbloated defense budget. Everything except for eliminating earmarks that serve mostly to help get incumbents re-elected. Everything except reigning in the cost of medical care by allowing individuals to import their prescriptions from Canada and other safe foreign countries. Everything except increasing the tax base by finally doing something about illegal immigration with the illegals many times being paid in cash on which no taxes are paid. Yup, everything is on the table as long as it only includes lowering benefits and raising the retirement age for those American workers who are forced to pay into the program all their lives.

It is true that all our government spending is not sustainable, but it is not realistic to expect that everyone born after 1960 can work until they are 70. A much more realistic place to cut is the military spending which now accounts for almost 60% of the budget and is increasingly supporting private corporate interests.

Two things -- the premise that Social Security is "in trouble" is bogus. As presently set up, it is sound until 2040. But "if not", an easy fix is to "raise the cap" at which FICA contributions are levied, presently set at $107,000 -- what's sacrosanct about those people who are earning more, PAYING MORE?

Another issue is -- where will the jobs for all the people forced to work until "age 70" come from? Does it mean that young people will be denied entry in the work force? The notion that longevity implies more work years of WORK is a philosophical question that cries out for a national dialogue, not FIAT.

Either scenario are neo-con fantasies that will be blown to pieces when the media start reporting things as they are, in truth, not as they are told to report, based on fantasy.

Social Security, as long as contributions are made by current workers, will be there when those workers retire. Ad infinitum ...

Age discrimination is huge right now, yet no one goes after employers. From the time you're in your 40's, unless you're a grey-templed CEO, you are not respected and not hired. So this is a non-starter as long as there is age discrimination.

Gee Thanks Baby Boomers.
You guys sure have left us in a mess!

to Anonymous 23:31 and 1:03. You are correct in saying that Social Security at this point in time does not contribute significantly to the deficit. It is incorrect though that the Social Security system is solvent until 2040. It would be but the Government has "borrowed" the trust fund surplus every year and spent it replacing the cash generated with U.S. treasury notes that are IOU's from the Government, a promise to pay. As of this year the Social Security surpluses are gone and Social Security will take in less money than it pays out. That means that the Government will have to borrow to make up the difference and start paying the fund the money it owes which with all the other deficit spending it cannot afford to do on a sustainable basis. That is why the Government is crying about the need to raise the age of retirement and lower benefits. They stole the money and now can't pay it back.

I really hope the American people see through the "social security is broken" nonsense. Raising the retirement age is nothing but a stab in the back to today's young and middle aged. The whole concept of social security is based on the n0tion of a social contract. We help out today's elderly, so that the youth of the future will help us out when we become elderly. To say to the youth and middle aged of today that you will continue to help out your elderly, but not get the help you gave out in return should be seen as a breach of contract.

Furthermore as other commenter have said, Social Security isn't broken. It's still running a surplus and even after 2039 it will be able to pay out 70-80% of benefits. Also does anyone notice that the year that Social Security is supposed to "go bankrupt" (which really means that it no longer has a surplus but can still pay out most benefits based on current social security taxes) keeps changing? I've read older reports that put the year at around 2017. This sounds like a scam.

Oh that's because it is a scam. Republicans have been trying to take down social security for years. A major part of their plan is to rack up deficits to force a Democratic administration to do the dirty work. If Democrats fall for this they are idiots (I wouldn't be surprised though).

We all need to keep saying until we're blue in the face that our deficit = our military. Until we tackle our wasteful military spending we will not be able to solve our deficit crisis. If we fail to do so we will go the way of the Soviet Union, who used their military to spend their way into insolvency and their collapse.

What makes raising the retirement age to 70 so laughable is that there are no jobs! Maybe part of these people's fantasy can be creating some scenarios visualizing the jobs we'll be hired for when we're in our sixties. I don't even get responses to my resume and I'm only in my fifties. Can they get any commitments from businesses that they'll hire 60 somethings? And as someone else pointed out, does that mean young people won't get those jobs? It's ridiculous to talk about a longer life span as normal these days when everything is falling apart. And it's ridiculous to think cutting Social Security will fix our deficit.

18:17, with the exception of #4 (I don't know what you're referencing there), excellent points. I agree with 1-3 completely. It's common sense, and the fact that we don't shows how much our government does not represent the people. I'll also add that we need to open up an improved and expanded Medicare for the country, and institute a guaranteed minimum income (not meaning "wage"), regardless of age. We should abolish the death penalty, legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana like alcohol, release all the people we spend 30-80,000 dollars per year incaracerating if they're not there for violent offenses, institute revolutionary change to campaign financing, and throw more than half of Congress in prison.

I took Social Security at 62, but not because I wanted to. There was no pension plan at my company, and I would gladly have worked until 70 had I not been forced out by owners who wanted to hire someone younger to do the job cheaper, but from what I've seen, not do it as well.