Letter to the editors, Chicago Tribune

Dear Editors,

The current White House Administration seems to wish to put my Social Security savings under my own control, in a retirement account in the style of a 401(k), rather than in a government trust fund. This would purportedly further the goals of an "ownership society".

The conservative preference for individual ownership and individual control has, in this case, become an irrational mania. The fact is that individuals are actually quite poor judges about their own investments. Studies show that, during the the last 20 years, the stock market averaged a 12 percent return, while 401(k) participants averaged only 6 percent a year. Mutual fund investors averaged 4 percent a year. Practically all individual investors did worse than the average mutual fund.*

And this occurred during the greatest bull market in history. What will happen when the market spends a few decades performing less well? Which solution will conservatives favor then: a government bailout, or shall we all just starve as individuals?

Yours,
Brandon Harvey

* see Slate.com, http://slate.com/id/2099695