Social Security account is pure fiction. Social Security is sim- ply welfare – taking money out of the paychecks of today’s workers and giving it to older people. Once the reality is under- stood, we can begin promoting strategies to lower the burden on workers, such as means testing or delaying retirement to older ages, that would cut the costs of the Social Security and Medicare programs and get the funding into the black. Then we should offer further cuts to enable us to begin allowing the youngest earners to opt out of the program. The more we can cut costs, the more young people won’t be trapped into dependency by putting their money into the Social Security and Medicare system.
What better reason to get us baby boomers to accept means testing and delays in Social Security entitlement, than to enable our grandchildren to be free of the burden of sup- porting us? I would gladly work a few years longer and post- pone my Social Security entitlement if I thought it would let my grandchildren put 12.40/0 of their salary into their own in shrewd investments, including television and airlines.
What accounts for Chile’s shift to the political right? In recent years, the economy has slowed, and Pinera favored removing regulations that stifle small business, and reshaping capital markets to enable businesses to get funding more easily. It didn’t hurt that Pill-era’s older brother, Jose, success- fully privatized the social security system in 1981, becoming the most famous Chicago Boy of all.
It appears that there is some measure of appreciation for the Chicago Boys in Chile today.
