[mikeash]

> He claims it's "ridiculous" to expect people to save responsibly. Yet it happens in east asia, and it happened historically in the west.

Social Security is the most effective anti-poverty program in the history of the US. Before SS, old people used to reliably end up destitute in far greater numbers than today. I don't believe your claim that responsible saving, to an extent to allow people to reliably retire in comfort, happened historically in the West.

[drumdance]

I agree with you overall. However, Social Security has come to be seen by too many people as a retirement fund when it was originally designed as a type of insurance. I think it should be means-tested.

[mikeash]

I agree, but I think that being structured as a mandatory retirement fund is a political necessity. A means-tested SS where what you put in is unrelated to what you get out would be outright welfare and unacceptable to a large portion of the American political spectrum.

Ironically, stuff like means-testing SS and removing the cap on the SS tax are just the sort of things that would keep SS solvent for decades to come, yet those who constantly criticize it on the basis that it's not sustainable would probably never accept such changes.