> And it probably isn't fair to really put social security in that category, because it is (sort of) self-funding (or at least, if you eliminated social security, that wouldn't just free up money to spend elsewhere).

thats their argument. if you take the ss tax away and privatize it then the wallstreet custodians get to play with it in market.. plus lower taxes and more fees for WS. one more thing , anytime you change the rules of the game you get to define the problems you are going to address and the problems you'll turn the blind eye to. so very high possibility of rigging the game. IMO even if you want to privatize SS current congress is the worst one to be allowed to.