isn't a terribly meaningful statistic in this discussion. It's true that the life expectancy at birth has risen dramatically in the last 100 years, but that's primarily due to improvements in the number of children living past age 5 (or so).

If you believe [link|http://www.ifs.org.uk/conferences/poterba/sld005.htm|this] slide, the life expectancy for men at age 65 has only increased abut 10 years in the last 1800 years.

SS should be treated as social insurance, not an entitlement. That would go a long way toward solving its financial difficulties.

My $0.02.

Cheers,
Scott.