A proposal for Social Security reform on the editorial page of the New York Times, March 27, 1996:

Private accounts would be enormously expensive to administer, as millions of workers would continuously be directing small amounts of new money into stocks and bonds. By tying retirement benefits to the individual's own contributions, the plan strips away much of Government's ability to subsidize low-income families.

A better plan was proposed by a group led by Robert Ball, a former Social Security Commissioner. This group also would invest a substantial fraction of payroll taxes in the stock market. But in this plan, the Government, not individuals, would do the investing—saving overhead costs and preserving the option to redistribute retirement benefits to poorer workers. Under this plan, Government would invest passively—putting money in funds that mirror all companies represented in the stock market—in order to keep politics out of retirement decisions.

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