As lives get longer, benefits should come later Change would curb the costs that drive Social Security's shortfall.

When President Bush recently proposed curbing Social Security benefits for middle- and upper-income workers, he certainly took a gamble.

His plan, known as “progressive indexing,” would slice deeply into monthly benefits and not just for the rich. A 25-year-old making $36,000, for instance, would get checks 16% smaller at retirement than what's currently promised. Reductions rise with incomes. Perhaps unsurprisingly, initial reviews of the plan have been mixed at best.

But hate it or love it, Bush's idea at least creates a benchmark to measure other sacrifices against. No cost-free alternative exists, but we think a better tradeoff is available: Increase the retirement age.

The Social Security Crisis- should we cut benefits or raise the retirement age? I'm talking about it Tuesday morning on The Pat Campbell Show.