DAVID LANGER COMPANY, INC

Letter to the Editor ¦ November 6, 2000
Expect returns if you invest your Social Security

By Douglas Lilly

I'd like to comment on David Langer's opinion piece asserting that the proposal to insert some Social Security money into the securities market is a "Ponzi scheme" ("Staking Social Security," Oct. 30).

I retired from the academic world fairly comfortably, due largely to the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, which was a model for the 401k plans, which in turn is a partial model for George W. Bush's Social Security plan. My generation was a supposedly special beneficiary of the Social Security System. But I calculate that my Social Security contributions would have brought about twice as much income if they had been put into teachers' insurance annuities.

Mr. Langer also claims, without proof, that the insertion of Social Security deductions would overbalance the private security system and over-enrich the brokerage community. The investment of $80 billion per year (Gov. Bush's plan) is less than 1 percent of the stock value of US corporations. Fluctuations of that magnitude in the stock market occur nearly every week without throwing the economy into a panic.

There are legitimate arguments for and against Bush's and Al Gore's plans, but those offered by Langer seem to me as phoney as a three-dollar bill.

Douglas Lilly
Norman, Okla.

Response:
Staking Social Security ¦ By David Langer The Christian Science Monitor, October 30, 2000