Even with the massive downturn in the economy, it wasn't Social Security that was in even minor danger, but the excess gathered from Social Security that's put into its Trust. Should the Trust stop growing two decades from now (whenever now is), Social Security would still be able to make payments for another three or more decades with no changes to how its collects revenue or distributes payments.
The most disturbing truth is that Social Security could be completely funded if one loophole was closed: the cap. Until a few years ago, income above $100,000 did not need to contribute to Social Security. This cap was not tied to inflation. As part of a political compromise, this cap was recently raised to $200,000 (still well-below the inflation rate). Simply tying this cap to inflation funds the Trust indefinitely. Removing the cap entirely would be able to fund Social Security as well as an expanded Medicare and Medicaid (meaning making them available to all citizens).
Yet people would rather believe the banking and investment firms ...