Policy Proposal: Social Security should be reformed to allow individual workers the ability to control the development of their own retirement funds. The FICA tax contributions of employers and employees, in addition to any 501(k) or similar account contributions offered by an employer, should be aggregated in a private, regulated account available for the worker to control. The simplified and efficient system should allow for market fund investment, charitable donation, inheritance transfer, and even personal withdrawal for certain mid-life catastrophic events, all serving as extra protection for all workers. The accounts should also provide a default, low-risk, government-backed investment option. The flexibility of these accounts will allow an employee's retirement funds to be under his or her personal control, not restricted in an employer-controlled fund, thus allowing employees to change jobs at will without sacrificing his or her retirement security. Most importantly, the policy will also help avoid the catastrophic fiscal imbalances the current Social Security system creates.
