LOL are you serious? I get about a 12% average rate of return on 401k in the last 5 years vs 2.5% for SS and if I die early it’s passed on to whomever I want instead of lost to the government. How is that “not much better than ss”?
Another benefit to investment is that your savings are put into the world's most efficient creator of wealth--the free market. Social security payments are put into the world's most efficient creator of something else, the US Government.
Upthread, it was said that the government takes in $100-200 billion more in Social Security receipts than it spends on Social Security entitlements. Imagine a system of federally-managed private retirement accounts (like the TSP system for federal employees) set up for younger workers so they could recoup the SS taxes that aren't paying entitlements today. That money would be go right back into the stock market. We'd have a lot more investment in American companies today, and universal retirement savings for tomorrow.