The Death of Social Security

Debating Bush's plan for private retirement accounts.

James K. Glassman & Tyler Cowen from the April 2005 issue

(Page 6 of 6)

2) Second, Glassman still misrepresents my opinion. He writes that my idea would: "slowly squeeze recipients through lower benefits, pressuring them to save more."

But I wrote: "I agree with James Glassman's first and second suggestions, namely that we should guarantee benefits for the current elderly and gradually index future benefits to inflation. The latter proposal would cause benefits to rise at a slower rate than otherwise."

More generally, I'll repeat my core characterization of the Glassman (Bush?) proposal. It suggests that the government should tax/borrow more money so that some American citizens can invest more in stocks. I'll vote no on this idea and hope that something better comes along.