Sunday, January 09, 2005
Sense of Insecurity
With so little time remaining, we need to order our affairs. Let us begin with the most serious, the most pressing, problem. In the United States, that is, of course -- no, not the budget deficit -- no, not unemployment -- no, not the health care crisis -- no, not the destruction of the environment -- no, not the growing gap between rich and poor -- no, it's social security and its alarming lack of private accounts.
With these private accounts, millions of workers will be able to give two-thirds of their Social Security contribution to stock brokers who will take a good commission in exchange for guaranteed Enron-or-better returns. Changing to a sink-or-swim, on-your-own, do-it-yourself system will involve some minor transition costs, perhaps one or two trillion dollars.
This change has the advantage of reducing the current post-2080 unfunded liability by reducing the protection Social Security provided and leaving it up to individuals to take of their own retirements.
With these private accounts, millions of workers will be able to give two-thirds of their Social Security contribution to stock brokers who will take a good commission in exchange for guaranteed Enron-or-better returns. Changing to a sink-or-swim, on-your-own, do-it-yourself system will involve some minor transition costs, perhaps one or two trillion dollars.
This change has the advantage of reducing the current post-2080 unfunded liability by reducing the protection Social Security provided and leaving it up to individuals to take of their own retirements.
