I was a bit more of a centrist slatebro then, and didn't know the whole Official Discourse about Social Security was bullshit, but even as far back as graduate school I remember scratching my head at the job talk of someone who went on to have a very lucrative career in the field of cutting to avoid cuts. We must cut it so they don't cut it. It makes as much sense as "we must end welfare so they don't end welfare" and "we must deport more people so they don't deport more people" and many other greatest hits of the last few decades.
