The chart is based on the Social Security Administrations own numbers. The article I linked to goes into considerable detail on the math.

You're clinging to the reporter's comfortable spin on "exhaustion," and refusing to consider the numbers.

25 percent cuts in benefits, or 33 percent increases in taxes.

Now what?

The Republicans over the years have come up with ways to bend the curve. The response from Democrats has been blind fury, declaring that the Republicans want to destroy it all and that nothing at all needs to be changed. I've gotten that response here.

Social Security is the cornerstone of the Great Welfare State progressives have been dreaming of for decades. If this turns out to be infeasible, the whole fantasy could come crumbling down. No liberal is going to effectively deal with this.

So who actually needs to "compromise" here?

Are Democrats going to go for benefit cuts? Means testing? Raising the age limits (this has already been done). Tax increases? Who pays? Who pays when the Treasury bills have to start being cashed in? Remove the cap? Remember why the cap is there in the first place? (there's no cap on Medicare taxes).

There are many ideas out there.

This problem has been obvious for a long time. One party has tried to address it and has been shot down in flames. The other one is firmly pretending it doesn't exist.

And Medicare, as indicated in the article I linked, is in far worse shape.

Again, now what?