There is no way SS is a “savings program,” as some claim.
Someone could pay into it all of his/her working life, totalling potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars, and if he or she dies before the eligibility age, or shortly afterwards, and doesn’t have a surviving spouse or minor children, all that money is gone, absorbed into the system to pay others.
On the other hand a private retirement account can be passed down as an inheritance.
And taxed to the max, in some places, as high as 50%.