Debate over Social Security, scant though it is, usually and understandably focuses on its insolvency. I recently tried to call attention to some of the program’s other flaws, such as its negative impact on U.S. savings rates and its failure, notwithstanding its enormous cost, to eliminate poverty among senior citizens. I argued that we should think not just about how to save the existing program but about what kind of program would make sense as part of a modern American retirement system. I suggested that a better system would include a flatter benefit structure, one that gave people with the ...

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