Rather than worrying about social security tanking you should research the actual probability. As I understand it the system is in good shape to pay as promised until ??? after which, if nothing happens in the meantime (unlikely) then the payout will be less than 100% of what is promised BUT NOT ZERO.
See http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/ for the trustees view of this.
This contains the following statement:”Treasury will redeem trust fund asset reserves to the extent that program cost exceeds tax revenue and interest earnings until depletion of total trust fund reserves in 2033, the same year projected in last year’s Trustees Report. Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2087.”
Hope this helps,
John
