"I agree that a strong economy floats everyone's boat. However I think that many businesses (and govts) can cover those expenses if they're properly planned & accounted for. The trick is to take conservative measures to be able to pay those obligations without having to engage in wishful anticipation of Dow 36,000." (Nords)
When I took economics in college in 1964, there was an on-going discussion in class about whether or not the DOW would ever hit 1000. Today, we are floating around 8200 give-or-take. It isn't unthinkable that by 2034 the DOW could hit 36000.
If you do a Google search on Public Pension funding, you can quickly discover that most state and local government pension plans are in trouble. Some of this is due to the current investment environment, more though is due to systematic under-funding; making promises to public employees and then not paying the piper.
Public employees (and private too) work for decades counting on these promises and will be discovering that their pensions are not secure. Only higher taxes, or reduced benefits will fix this.
For those of us who had higher incomes while we worked, it will be a stretch for us to come out even on SS, given what was paid into the program. However, given that 10 quarters of employment, part-time at minimum wage, can get someone a significant lifetime payment, there is no way that SS can be fair to us. Someone has to pay for the low-income folks who will collect far more than paid in. (Fortunately, we have millions of illegal immigrants who are paying SS but will never collect to help.)