Charles Krauthammer does a nice job of explaining the real problem with Social Security:

If 2042 were an actuarially significant date, all of this could be forgiven. The president would simply have to work extra hard on getting us to imagine it. But pointing to a date that will instantly lose 90 percent of the audience is doubly crazy when that date is meaningless. 2042 is the fictional date for the fictional bankruptcy of a fictional trust fund.