Social Security is currently much in the news because it faces a projected funding gap, because of overall budget defi cits, and because of doubts in some quarters about its design. Minor adjustments are suffi cient to close the funding gap. Benefi t cuts, even if considered desirable, would not help close the overall budget gap in a timely way. Some adjustments in Social Security benefi ts and fi nancing are desirable, but large scale changes would be disruptive and would not well serve the program’s basic purposes — to provide assured, basic income to retirees, the disabled, and survivors — unless they more or less replicated the current program.