[stopem]

"Meanwhile, prospects for reform of the social-security system are fading, as some Republicans abandon the president for fear that his proposed reduction in benefits will cost them so many seats that they will lose control of Congress, and others realise that creating private accounts will reduce the flow of money into the system without reducing outlays — a combination that would balloon the deficit by between $2,000 billion and $5,000 billion.

There is a story going around the net and it sounds feasible.
It goes like this, allow an individual to take ex-amount of money each year and invest it in a private account tax free (IRA's?) than when they apply for SS the amount accumalated would be deducted off their benefits. It wouldn't cost the government as much to implement.

[flitton]

Would there be an additional benefit for that? People may well not wish to do that if any profit is deducted from SS payments without an incentive.