In retirement, the accumulated funds would finance a monthly annuity that the retiree would use to help purchase the private health insurance of his choice.

FORBES: Gutting Medicare By Refusing To Pay The Bills

It is declining and will disappear in the next 8-10 years, but the accumulated funds plus future revenues will cover Social Security payments until about 2040.

ECONOMIST: Plugging the spending gap

Those accumulated funds would pay all workers at all income levels much higher benefits than Social Security even promises, let alone what it could pay, two to three times as much, and possibly even more.

FORBES: A Winning Plan For Social Security Reform

He emphasized the personal ownership and control workers would enjoy through the accounts, the better returns on investment and consequently higher benefits, the accumulated family funds that could be left as an inheritance to children or other heirs, and the full solvency for Social Security that would be achieved without raising taxes or cutting benefits.

FORBES: How George W. Bush Lost Personal Accounts For Social Security

When one considers the paltry average amounts that Americans have accumulated in their defined contribution plans, it is absurd to pretend that these funds will provide for more than a year or two of full retirement at best.

FORBES: A Nation on the Precipice: Our Failed Retirement System (October 12, 2007)