And speaking of Social Security...

I thought I was in favor of personal accounts, but Ken at Chicago Boyz makes this argument (a good one, I think) against that approach:

First, it's not really yours if it can be used only at the sufferance of the Social Security administration. Second, having the government direct the flow of that large quantity of investment capital, however indirectly, is just asking for trouble. The reason that our investment system works is that people attract investment by convincing people not only that their investment will make money, but that their investment is the best possible use of the investor's money, better not only than "approved investments", better not only than any other investment, but better than any other possible present use of that money including consumption. Let bureaucrats who won't even be gaining or losing their own money have a say, and (much more) money will start flowing to enterprises based on pull rather than merit and profitability, and a lot of the money that would otherwise have gone to fund growth and technological advancement will instead go to waste.

The whole article is here.