The overwhelming majority of adults are unprepared for retirement, in fact. SS replaces only
1/3 of prior wages, yet most people havene't saved enough to cover the balance. a study by (I think) Bill Gale found that the stock crash in 2000 had little impact on savings adequacy for retirement because most people didn't have anywhere near adequate savings to start with. SS is a form of insurance-- manatory yes, but far more efficient than private insurance. Overhead costs run less than 0.8 percent. Ellen I assume the overwhelming percentage of the citizenry is capable of preparing for retirement. We allow people to self-finance and self-insure their cars, homes, life, etc., and the system generally works pretty well. You are implicitly assuming adults should be treated as children. David
