You remember the FBI’s a few months ago dropping a software system that would have brought them into the 21st century. Of course, this was after they had sunk a couple of hundred million into it. Would an attempt to introduce private accounts into Social Security wind up as another technical fiasco?
In general I’m in favor of private accounts as an adjunct to Social Security as we know it, but the conversion costs cannot be justified.
However, other issues have arisen. A recent Wall Street Journal article spoke of the technical and other logistical issues that private accounts would be likely to engender. One “minor” item: the SSA estimates they would need between 7,735 and 33,630 new employees just to answer the phones; and naturally these new employees would be experts on the new private accounts. There are lots more potential glitches in a move of this magnitude. It doesn’t appear to be a smart move today.
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