At first, I thought this was a relatively good idea. It seemed simple enough to understand. Americans don’t like to save, but more importantly don’t like work. So set up a program to promote the former by capitalizing on the latter.
Huzzah! Americans’ retirements saved!
After thinking about it some more, I’m having reservations. Here’s a few things I see wrong with these type of programs.
Sure, it would be great to have that money set aside when I’m older, but would a forced savings plan create better savers now? I don’t think so. If anything, it could drive youth away from saving. If you knew the government was automatically setting aside your retirement, where’s the incentive to do more?
Programs of this nature do not empower people, they coddle them into dependence. It seems policies, even those well-intentioned, revert to the idea that we are simply too dim to decide for ourselves. There’s always spectacular fanfare behind the programs the government churns out, yet they consistently fail to address the deeper issues.
Specific to the case, it’s not about capitalizing on our laziness, but transitioning our LIFESTYLES from spenders to savers.
