Column #84 MONETIZING SOCIAL SECURITY

(Week 15 - Friday, Nov. 21)

In the last two columns I have described the problematic financial nature of how retirement accounts are currently conceived and set up. In the case of Social Security it is not realistic to expect that deductions from paychecks would be monies put away on behalf of retirees until the day when they can begin to draw them out. In actuality they constitute a tax that finances current revenue flows, out of which benefits are paid. As for private retirement accounts, money put away, whether by involuntary payroll deductions or voluntary contributions, are effectively transformed from being purchasing power earned in present time, into funds that are used to make financial "investments". These "investments" will, most commonly, be in the form of "debt" contracts that people are obliged to take on in their lives by the very fact that the deferring of purchasing power represented by these retirement accounts will deprive the economy of the ability to complete its own market cycle, and so make such borrowing necessary.

In both of these scenarios the benefit sought through the putting away of money for retirement is ultimately not realized. Such arrangements may have seemed to have worked for the last two or three generations, but that is because the shortchanging of purchasing power could be covered by the taking on of more "debt" to cover current financial flows, and their workings obscured by deceptive concepts and language. Now that cost is coming due, as indicated by the massive losses in the supposed value of retirement funds, or their going bankrupt altogether. The mounting indebtedness of the economy is now reaching the point where even the basis for Social Security appears threatened.

The prerequisite to resolving this crisis is to take back the money-creation franchise from the private banking system, and return it to the public sector. This can be done through a legislative act that would repeal the corporate charter of the Fed, purchase its outstanding stock from member banks, and bring its capabilities under the direction of the U.S. Treasury. From that point, money would be either spent or loaned into existence directly out of the Treasury.

With respect to Social Security, beneficiaries would, as now, receive checks from the Treasury, but the difference is that the Treasury would not itself have to "borrow" the money to cover them, and thereby add to the Federal "debt". It would instead create the money "out of thin air" with the writing of the checks (as banks do now for the money they lend to the government). Monetarily speaking, their ability to do this is unlimited, so the mental ruse of thinking that there must exist some fund out of which the money is being drawn would be less tenable. The only real limit to what can be funded is determined by the physical actualities of the resources available to the society as a whole to provide for the needs of the elderly. An assessment would be made (much in the manner that any budgetary process is conducted now) that would determine what part of the national income would need to accrue to seniors, and then legislated into law. That sum, apportioned between eligible recipients by whatever formula is used, would be what each would receive.

Alternately, within a public monetary system, it would also be possible for the Treasury to maintain enough money in circulation so that deductions could be made from paychecks and put away in a Social Security Trust Fund against the day when it would be drawn upon. This would work in this case simply because money issued publicly would not be obliged to "earn interest". There would be no cost associated with letting such funds lie idle, for decades even, because the additional money that would be needed to compensate for their withdrawal from general circulation could be issued by the Treasury and spent into existence.

That said, I recommend that it not be done this way. This is because to do so would effectively begin to put conditions on the allocation of resources that wound be available when these monies are eventually paid out, which, in turn, could create issues of equity and adequacy that could not be anticipated. As a compromise solution, it would be possible to assign social credits to money earned (instead of subtracting money to be put away), the value of which would be determined at the time of retirement, but this would create additional paperwork and also introduce possible complications with respect to the equities of distribution.

In any case, if we went to a public monetary system all of these options, or combinations thereof, could be made to work on a sound and consistent monetary basis. We as a society would have opened up the possibility of working out provision for the elderly that was reliable, understandable and based upon the physical ability of the economy at the time to provide it.

A question naturally arises concerning whether this inflow of "cost free" money into the economy would balloon the money supply, and thereby cause inflation. If it were managed well it would not, simply because any excess buildup could be removed from circulation through taxation, and retired. Thus would the quantity of money in circulation be maintained at the level required to monetize (lend a monetary dimension to) any activity in the economy that needed to be accounted for, including putting away funds to cover Social Security, if that were what is called for.

In the next column I will describe how a return of the monetary franchise to public control could open the door to resolving the problems associated with private retirement accounts.

Richard Kotlarz
richkotlarz@gmail.com

The complete set of columns from this series is posted at the following websites.
http://economictree.blogspot.com/
http://www.concordresolution.org/column.htm