Pretending that SS is AOK is definitely NOT the way to save it, but the administration's plans for privatizing SS (in the sense that they would be invested in, and managed by the private sector) does nothing to alleviate the situation. It's no secret that the plan would cost literally trillions of dollars, and would take money out of the SS system. Taking money OUT of a cash-strapped system seems counter-intuitive to me. I don't want to get caught up in the wonky details (as juicy as they are) for this proposal, but I would ask:

* what happens to a retirement account under this system when the market tanks? This is the most obvious question, so I'm suprised that a proponent of the program does not address it.

* does the TSP program that the author describes deduct a percentage of gains to pay back SS, as this program would? Recently, the administration stated that privatized retirement accounts would only collect profit over 3%. The first 3% goes back to SS as interest for borrowing from it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60749-2005Feb3.html

SS is going to need some kind of help to survive the impact of retiring baby boomers, but I can't see that this plan does that. Maybe it would make sense to separate this plan from the problem.

nicfit212