Here's an Op/Ed from the New York Times which briefly compares the U.S. system of social security with the privatized system in Chile. It is required reading for anyone concerned about the future of our system. This simple analysis makes me imagine a person retiring at 65, 25 years from now, with both parents still alive. Most likely our theoretical 65-year-old is going to need all the extra money he or she might make under privatized accounts in order to support his or her parents. Those parents would be living on a meager social security check thanks to the reduction in benefits made in the 1980s in order to keep the system solvent. If further cuts are made in the future, many fewer seniors will be able to keep cats and dogs as pets although they'll still be buying at least as much pet food.