Workers would invest in bonds and stocks and accrue a significant nest egg throughout their working lives, which could be drawn upon at retirement. In addition to giving workers the chance to accrue savings, this reform would prefund future benefits, making Social Security sustainable over the long run. Instead of relying on taxes from future workers to pay benefits, retirees would draw upon assets built up over decades. That's a bunch of nonsense caused by the money illusion. Having a bunch of "money" does no good if the generation producing the goods and services is not large enough to produce what they and their children need, plus enough to supply what retirees want to buy with "money." This would become apparent when people tried to "draw down their nest egg" at retirement. How do you draw down a nest egg? By selling it. If there are more people trying to do that than there are people saving for their own retirement (those are the people who are available to buy these financial assets) you end up with the same problem we have now. It's just that instead of the government defaulting on its promises, you experience the 'default' as plummeting stock, bond, and housing prices caused by too many people trying to sell at once into a market that is thin on buyers. The "nest eggs" decline in value by the same amount that the government would have 'defaulted' on. The people who say, "Let's not forget that 28% of the generation that should be paying into the system now was aborted by women" have the best handle on what will cause this default. That's not just an abortion rant; it goes to the heart of the problem, which is the declining ratio of workers to retirees. No retirement program of any kind can work if the ratio of workers to retirees gets too low. The working generation has to feed themselves and the nation's children. Whatever resources the working generation has to support dependents have to be apportioned among young dependents and old dependents. For the old to use governmental force to take more for themselves at the expense of children is just plain wrong. |