There is nothing in the trust fund but IOUs. The program's looming bankruptcy is not all that troubles the Oregon legislature. Allowing such investing, the resolution continues, might increase the savings rate, spur the Oregon economy and generate the kind of jobs that would encourage Oregon residents not to look outside the state for work. Already the state has obtained waivers related to its use of Medicaid funds and to its plans to move welfare recipients to work. The waiver is necessary because for the time being it is illegal to opt out of Social Security.
Alternatives do exist.
In 1981 local government employees in three Texas counties bailed out of the Social Security system through a loophole that was closed in 1983. In Chile, a country which once endured a state-controlled retirement system like the one here, a privatized system has generated 12.8 percent annual returns for its citizens over the past 15 years. By contrast, young residents of this country can look forward to negative returns. Armed with such findings and backed by two think tanks, the Cato Institute here in Washington and the Portland, Oregon-based Cascade Policy Institute , the state is now pushing to free its residents from the shackles of Social Security and to give them better alternatives. Anyone who aspires to a comfortable retirement should hope the Oregon option gets a chance to succeed.