Robert Kuttner

In the following viewpoint, Robert Kuttner contends that privatization is not the best way to reform Social Security. Kuttner maintains the proponents of privatization overstate the yields that would be accrued through private investments and seek to destroy the political coalition that supports Social Security. He suggests that Social Security should instead be supplemented by endowment accounts—money that would be given by the government to children when they are born and that would be available for education, home ownership, and retirement. Kuttner is the founder and co-editor of the magazine American Prospect.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. Why does Kuttner argue that comparing stock market returns and Social Security returns is like comparing apples and oranges?
2. How would the author finance his proposed endowment accounts?
3. In the author’s view, how...