Over the past generation private retirement accounts have migrated from defined benefit plans to 401k's or nothing. It is now becoming clear that this will be a disaster. The median amount that a worker aged 55-64 had in their account in 2010 was only $120,000 and the future is likely to be worse. The mean Social Security benefits are only $1230 a month.
Now is not the time to cut benefits, but to increase them.