Suddenly personal retirement accounts

Writing in the WashPost, George Will examines the innumeracy, or at least the shifting justifications, of the Democrats:

George W. Bush made this case in his advocacy of personal accounts financed by a portion of individuals' Social Security taxes and invested in funds based on equities and bonds. When he proposed this, Clinton stridently opposed him, and not just because she thought it would undermine Social Security's solvency and political support. She also said it was a dangerous gamble that would make retirement insecure by linking retirement savings to the stock market. Echoing a trope from Al Gore's 2000 presidential campaign, she said investing retirement funds in the stock market was a "risky scheme."

Today her Web site calls her proposal a way to save for "a secure retirement." After an undisclosed epiphany, she belatedly recognizes that 401(k) funds invested in equities are a foundation for security.

It's a fact that the investor class in the United States has grown just as the rate of return for Social Security has plunged below a that of a simple savings account. Hillary is simply acknowledging something that almost everybody with a 401(k) understands: private equities are better than public programs.