That's trillion with a "T"

Reason Online: "Republicans' and Democrats' Refusal To Reform Social Security and Medicare Is Political Malpractice - In 10 years, the programs' funds will be insolvent. Over the next 30 years, they will run a $116 trillion shortfall."

Social Security, readers might remember, has been relying on its trust funds' IOU since 2010 to fully pay for retirees' benefits. Assets are running low and will be gone by 2033. When that happens, it won't be authorized to make the entirety of these payments—only the amount it collects in payroll taxes. That's a 23 percent cut. You can tell a similar story about the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for Medicare. By 2031, the program will be insolvent, and benefits will be cut by 11 percent. That's an understatement since the solvency calculations exclude Medicare's physician (Part B) and drug (Part D) programs, which face a $1 trillion shortfall over the next decade.

To pretend that Social Security and Medicare shouldn't be touched is nothing short of political malpractice. Over the next 30 years, the two programs will run a $116 trillion shortfall. This number accounts for the significant amount of interest payments on the debt the government will ring up in the process. While we might be able to stumble along indefinitely, all that borrowing will slow—perhaps even halt—our economic growth, making funding the programs that much more difficult.

Entitlements escape the normal solutions because there is no way we can just "tax the rich" to pay for such a massive program.  No politician wants to tell (younger) voters that they need to dig deeper to get benefits that might not be available when they turn older.