Privatizing Social Security is for People Who Don't Need It
James S. McKay
printed in the Hartford Courant

In the final presidential debate, the President reiterated his frightening plan to create private social security accounts. Now, I don't know about you, but I've been through 20 years of formal education and earned two graduate degrees and the idea of managing my own social security account scares me to death. It's not that I'm lazy or don't believe in making private investments. On the contrary, I'd love to shrewdly put my money to work and watch it grow. The problem is, despite my education, I am no financier and I doubt that I ever will be.

The President's plan to privatize social security and allow Americans to manage their "own money" is hopelessly out of touch with the way most of us live our economic lives. It unrealistically presumes that average people have a high level of financial savvy. The truth is that most of us get by trying to make sure our paycheck can cover the bills and hoping that our house may be worth enough down the line to provide a bit of a nest egg. If we're fortunate, we have a job with a pension, and maybe a 401K.

The idea of playing the market with our own Social Security seems scary and lies well beyond our expertise. We take comfort in the fact that no matter how badly we might botch our own affairs, the government assures that we won't be left utterly penniless when we are old and frail. Asking us to put our money at risk by managing our own Social Security accounts defeats this very purpose. Indeed, if we were all such great managers of our money, we never would have needed Social Security in the first place.

Social Security exists not to protect people who know how to make successful investments. It exists for the rest of us who, even if we are smart and well educated, may nevertheless need a safety net for our retirement years.