Social Security

This is the voice of reason?

So Drew Carey was on the Tavis Smiley show on PBS, don't ask why I watched it, but I did. He mad the finest point on Social Security that I've ever heard. If Social Security is so good, then why isn't it voluntary? If it's such a good thing then why don't people have the option to subscribe to it or not? Some people are astute enough that they can put money into investments and outperform Social Security. Some people are astute enough that they can put money into a savings account or trust and outperform Social Security. I'll go even a step further, some people could stuff money under their mattress and outperform Social Security. Why on earth would we want a mechanism designed for the post-depression era to work for us, when a mutual fund manager can beat it. Why put money into an albatross when a money market fund can kick its butt? Most non-Social Security retirement plans could outperform 50 years of Social Security in 25-30 years. The problem I have with this entire debate is that as soon as voluntary accounts were brought into the debate, opponents of the idea went from civil discourse to misdirection. It is also disingenuous of people in the 40-50 age range to be debating this. Apparently the solvency of SS will last long enough for them to use it, but in the event that I might need that money, the program will be in the "defunct" stage. It has to be fixed at some point if the government is going to force us to put money into Social Security.