Fixing the economy? Start with social security...

FIXING THE ECONOMY: Peter Diamond suggests that social security would be a good place to start. "With millions of Americans out of work, a mounting federal debt, and the national economy at risk of a renewed recession, no one seems to be thinking about the Social Security system at the moment. But they should be. Fixing Social Security—that is to say, restoring the program’s actuarial balance—would serve our economic needs in a number of ways. It would help with our long-term fiscal problems without damaging our short-run outcomes; moreover, it would be a lasting commitment, not a seeming fix that might be undone. Most importantly, it’s something that our existing political system might actually accomplish. [...] The program’s design is simple: it’s essentially money in and money out. Everybody who looks at it understands how it works. We also can estimate, with fairly good accuracy, what sort of behavioral changes—and cost savings—would be produced by changes in the program’s parameters." Read the rest.