As someone looking at 50 next year I'm not sure what all this will bring for me. Nonetheless, I do support private accounts for younger folks. People need to own the fruits of the labor. However it should be no surprise to any of us that so many are desperately addicted to the nanny state and that monthly check. They (as well as me) were told all our lives that the money that came out of our checks would go for us - of course it was a nanny-state lie. What I'd say to all you Gen-X'ers who are trying to find a way to pay for healthcare, be warry of signing on to nice-sounding universal health care plans for all. Nothing's free.
More than 45 million Americans receive SS checks now and that number will rise dramatically to 70 million with the coming retirement of the baby boomer cohort.