It's interesting for me now having both an American and a British "future pension". Maybe this will provide some perspective.
With something like 20 years of full year NI payments in the British scheme I am currently entitled to something like 55% percent (it used to be 66% - they keep trimming it) of the full pension which is currently what £120 per week? leaving me with maybe £70 a week ish at age 67 (for me) assuming I never work in blighty again. Quite honestly that seems like a bad deal for all those years of payments.
On the other hand I have paid into the American scheme for only 16 years, and if the Social Security Administration is to be believed I am already entitled to $1,150 a month even if I stop work now, so roughly £885 per month in the US scheme compared to just £280 a month in the British scheme, and I can claim it at 62 in the US as opposed to 67. If I work for another 10 years it will almost double to over $2,000 a month.
My numbers are probably shaky but you get the general idea, the UK pension seems to involve an awful lot of paying in and very little paying out, hence me relying on nothing government based and saving as much as I can into private schemes (401ks, IRAs etc). Even so I will never reach my "recommended retirement amount" - I suspect that there will be a lot of people on both sides of the Atlantic who will be working a lot longer than they had originally planned and I get the distinct impression that government funds are running out in both countries.
Not intended to be controversial, just thought the perspective might be interesting.