A combination of the floundering economy and the increasing number of retiring baby boomers could completely drain Medicare by 2017 and Social Security by 2037, both earlier than had been predicted. What can people do to ready themselves?
Avoid ever having to retire by securing a job with a lifetime appointment, like Supreme Court justice or Chilean dictator
Buy a decent pair of socks that can last for the next 40 years
Mend strained relationship with most successful child
Don't blow all your antibiotics on the one lung infection
If your employer doesn't offer a 401(k), try fashioning one yourself out of any spare pieces of Internal Revenue Code you have lying around
Demand that Congress engage in divisive, protracted, but ultimately successful bargaining to produce legislation that, with much fanfare, extends these programs' solvency through 2039
Mentally prepare to have no money and die earlier
Assume someone will figure everything out by then