Both claims can't be true. The second line of attack points to the booming stock market. If only you'd had your Social Security taxes in the market, they say, look how much richer you'd be. But nobody thinks the market is going to quintuple in the next decade as it did in the past decade when it was reacting to the long, slow decline in inflation. Further, it is a mistake to compare personal stock investments with social insurance.
Social security is intended to anchor a three-legged retirement tripod.
The other two sources of retirement income are personal savings and pension plans. Unlike the other two, social security is guaranteed by the government. No matter what the state of your own nest egg, your fortune or misfortune playing the market, whether or not you have a private pension plan, Social Security is there for you. Two years ago, a national commission on Social Security split three ways. Two factions wanted moderate or radical versions of privatization, both involving tax hikes to finance a new system of private investment accounts.