Social Security Privatization: Zombies Never Die

Abstract

Institutional economists spend a great deal of time pointing out the unexplored problems existing within mainstream economic proposals. The privatization of Social Security (SS) is one such proposal and, like the locusts of old, this proposal will once again come to plague our political discourse. In a world facing existential threats from war, climate change, pandemic, and famine it is inevitable the right wing of the U.S. political system will once again turn to issues they really see as important: how to increase profit margins for international finance. Social Security privatization is a complex solution to a relatively minor problem. This essay will summarize the general shape of privatization schemes and explore two major problems they have as proposed. The essay will then offer a differing way to organize privatization that may call into question how well privatization would work.