Excerpt: The simplest design for a mandatory universal pension system would be to piggyback a system of individual retirement savings accounts onto the existing Social Security withholding system. How big that add-on pension system should be (3% of payroll or 6% or more); how to distribute the financing (employee only, employee plus employer, plus subsidies from government); how to tax contributions, investment earnings and withdrawals; how to arrange account administration (pooled, federally administered or private, individually administered); and what age or conditions to set on withdrawals are all major design issues.  MORE >>