| BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : FEBRUARY 22, 1999 ISSUE | ||||||||
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| READERS REPORT
Social Security: Bye-Bye, American Pie The desperate search for a painless way to save Social Security has sunk to a new low--pure gimmickry (''Social Security: Here we go again,'' Editorials, FEb. 1). To be sure, investing some of the budget surplus in the stock market, rather than using it to pay off government debt, would put Social Security on sounder financial footing. But it would do so only by reducing the expected returns for private investors, who would wind up holding fewer equities and more Treasury bonds. This reshuffling of paper assets between the government and private parties obviously isn't going to increase the savings, productivity, or output of the nation as a whole. The pie isn't going to be any bigger, so the nation's ability to support retirees in the next Century won't be any greater. The unfortunate reality is that there is no costless way of funding Social Security. If benefits are to be maintained, someone is going to have to pay. Joshua N. Feinman John R. Williams Bankers Trust Co. New York _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP |
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