Savings Rates in America

I read a snippet by Laura Rowley in Yahoo Finance this morning bemoaning the savings rates in the US. The article states that:

While three-quarters of Americans report that they save something, half put away only 5 percent or less of their income. Forty-three percent say they aren't saving enough to maintain a desirable living standard in retirement.

My thought was that 50% socking away less than 5% was not a bad thing. I considered the 13% (6.5% each from employee and employer) enforced "savings" of social security and this looks pretty good. Unfortunately social security payments cant really be considered savings since you have no control over the money once it is extracted from your paycheck. Indeed, a good portion of the working populace is being told today to not expect anything out of social security. If savings is such a boon and a desirable trait, allowing workers to opt out of social security would be a great place to start.