Tara Siegel Bernard, who has reported extensively on the future of Social Security, answers:

You’re right: Social Security’s annual trustee report warned earlier this month that the program’s longstanding shortfall had worsened. At the end of 2032, the trust fund that pays retiree and survivor benefits would be depleted, and incoming revenue would be enough to pay only 78 percent of benefits, which translates into a 22 percent benefit cut.

Several proposals exist to shore up the program, either through tax increases, benefit cuts or some combination therein. But such a crucial program requires a fix that garners public and bipartisan support — a challenge in these polarized times.

But the report appeared to inspire some movement. Two members of Congress recently introduced a bill that would create an independent commission, with members appointed by both parties, tasked with finding “commonsense solutions.” And Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Moreno said they’re working on a bipartisan plan of their own.

What or who decides gasoline prices? The price of a barrel of oil doesn’t always seem to track with prices at the pump. — Kate Eaton, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Emmett Lindner, a business reporter who has been covering the recent rise and fall of gas prices, answers:

There’s a saying about the cost at the pump: up like a rocket, down like a feather. Essentially, the price of gasoline shoots up when oil jumps, but takes a while to match a drop. The conflict in the Persian Gulf has caused a lack of crude supply throughout the world; at one point, oil’s price went up over 50 percent. Barrel costs have gone down, but some of the gas currently sold was refined from the older, more expensive crude.

When wholesale prices go down, station owners are also slow to cut costs, hoping to make up for weeks of thin margins. And, of course, they try to draw customers while remaining competitive with the other stations in the area.

We landed on the moon decades ago. Why isn’t it easy to do so again? Why are we reinventing the wheel? — Linda Hoza, Lakewood Ranch, Florida