Social Security may not be able to pay full retirement benefits as soon as 2033, based on current projections from the program's trustees. If Congress doesn't move to fix the situation by that date, the general expectation is that millions of retirees could see a 21% across-the-board benefit cut. The effects of that lost income could be enough to prompt a retirement crisis, since it would double the elderly poverty rate and reduce median senior household income by nearly 14%, according to new research from the American Enterprise Institute. Yet those broad benefit cuts would not necessarily have to happen, as the worst effects of insolvency could be prevented by executive action, according to the report. "It means big cuts on very rich people, but it avoids what you might think of as a retirement crisis, where everything is thrown into upheaval," Biggs said.

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Persons: Andrew Biggs, Kristin Shapiro, " Biggs Organizations: American Enterprise Institute, Finance, Social Security Administration, Social Security, AEI Locations: BakerHostetler