Senator Robert Kerrey and former Senator John Danforth recently suggested the first steps toward the privatization of Social Security in their recommendations as co-chairmen of the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement and Tax Reform. They proposed that individuals be allowed to shift approximately 10 percent of their Social Security taxes to individual investment accounts. While this proposal does not go as far as I would like, it represents a sound first step on the road to reform. It is time to recognize that Social Security is not a government pension program offering retirees reasonable benefits in return for their taxes. It is a coercive intergenerational transfer tax that relies on unrealistic assumptions and pays unreasonably low benefits.
Reform is long overdue.
It may be too late to fix things for my generation. But if we fail to act soon, our children will be the next victims. The Cato Institute Project on Social Security Privatizaton E-mail the Webmaster 1000 Massachusetts Ave.