The second reform is to move toward privatization of the Social Security system. This is not unprecedented. It has been done in Chile and in Britain. Britain's two-tier system is especially worthy of study. The U.S. Social Security system is not an ''investment'' in any real sense of the word.
Workers send in their money and the government sends the money back to retirees.
But, whereas 20 workers supported one retiree in 1950, it is now three workers for each retiree. Soon it will be two. In Britain, workers pay a payroll tax and it goes into a basic state pension. The state-run plan operates much like Social Security. One remarkable result of this sensible plan is that by 2030, the United Kingdom will have paid off its entire national debt, according to an official of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.