The annual trustees’ reports on Social Security and Medicare were released yesterday, and it would be easy to get bogged down in the actuarial details of lockboxes and Medicare Parts A and B. The reports showed Social Security on course to be insolvent by 2042, and Medicare’s insolvency to be set for 2026.

That’s a long time away. But the reports underline the urgency of moving aggressively now to reform these programs. President Bush has already outlined a plan for Medicare that would help control costs while providing a prescription-drug benefit to seniors.

There’s a similar opportunity to be seized with respect to the Social Security program. The 2002 elections showed that, contrary to the popular belief, the program is not the third rail of American politics. Senators Dole of North Carolina and Coleman of Minnesota won while favoring accounts that would be controlled and invested by individuals. These sorts of defined contribution savings plans would bring the public pension scheme in line with the private sector, in which defined-contribution plans like 401(K) programs have overtaken old-fashioned defined-benefit pension plans. Any program that allows Americans to allocate even a portion of their Social Security taxes to private accounts would be a boon to Wall Street, moving billions of dollars from Washington to New York City.