Leaving aside the question of who benefits from the rather vaguely described private accounts notion, it seems pretty clear that the idea of putting private accounts in the stock market subjects them to risk. There will thus be winners and losers.

But the point of Social Security is essentially to eliminate or at least sharply reduce the number of people who are destitute in their old age. Additionally, there is the disability protection.

People who can afford to take risks in the stock market don’t need to have their Social Security put into private accounts; they have discretionary income for that.

Beyond that, I think it’s important to remember that the media coverage of this issue is essentially provided by people who have stock options and well-paying jobs. There are plenty of people who are going to be big losers in a privatization scheme, but they aren’t being represented in Congress or the media, because those folks don’t live in the same world.

Finally, while this may seem attractive in the short term, in the long term, any society with a moral compass is going to end up taking care of the losers, anyway.

So, let’s leave well enough alone, shall we?

And by the way, SOCIAL SECURITY ISN’T BROKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!