Subject: RE: More on Risk: A Response to Mr Reischauer
>From: Andre Dermant
>At the very end of his comment, he [Reischauer] states that his example is "extreme". Then, if it is extreme, it is NOT representative; if fact it is irrelevant and misleading and not helpful in the discourse.
You miss the point Andre. In moving from a collective insurance type system with shared societal risk to an individual account system, equal investment 'efforts' can produce vastly different results. The fact that it is extreme, not normal or not representative doesn't change the fact that it will occur for millions of people. With the current SS, bumps in the economy are 'smoothed' or averaged out to the individual. Not so with individual accounts.
Those are real people who will be affected and that has political consequences that should be considered BEFORE we make any reform decision.
