Contents: Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Introduction -- Negative Exceptionalism -- The Risk Premium's Source: Near-Universal Aversion to Risk -- ch. 2 Social Security: A Very Brief Overview -- ch. 3 Safety Nets: Insurance Policies and Retirement Plans -- Social Security Is a Self-Funded Mandatory Minimal Safety Net, Not an Entitlement -- Friedrich Hayek's and Adam Smith's Views on Minimal Safety Nets -- The Minimal Safety Net ... Needs Tailored Private Add-Ons -- ch. 4 Shortcomings of Social Security -- Payroll Taxes vs. Mandatory Contributions -- Not Investing in Stocks and Marketable Treasuries -- Trapped by the Unified Budget -- US Government's Financial Deficit Reporting = 64 Madoffs -- The Growth in the National Debt was Partially Shielded by the Unified Budget -- ch. 5 If Social Security Funds had been Invested in Marketable Treasury Bonds and Stocks .. with Other Things Being Equal -- The Investment Strategy -- Commissions and Market Impact Costs --

Contents note continued: Cash Flows Available to Invest -- Tracking Errors and Securities Lending Fees -- The First 19 Years -- 55 Years of No New Investments in US Stocks -- No International Stocks Until 2002 -- The Treasury Bond Portfolio -- Occasional Short-Term Borrowing -- Summary and Discussion -- Comparing the Invested Trust Fund with the Historical Trust Fund -- Other Things Would Not Be Equal... -- ... The Wealth Effect Would Boost Economic Growth... and Reduce the National Debt -- ch. 6 Privatizing Social Security Results in Inefficiency, Moral Hazard, and Very Low Productivity -- Private Accounts and Canada --- the Record -- Argentina and Bolivia -- Canada -- Chile -- Poland -- Singapore -- Sweden -- United Kingdom -- Summary -- Private Social Security Accounts are Inefficient -- Private Accounts and Moral Hazard -- Private Accounts Generate Huge Losses in Productivity -- ch. 7 The Way Forward -- Making the Social Security System Independent --

Contents note continued: The Federal Reserve Model -- The Transition into Stocks and (Marketable) Treasury Bonds -- Annual Reports -- Research Staff -- Unfunded Liabilities... Goodbye? -- From Payroll Taxes to Mandatory Contributions -- Some Agenda Items for the Social Security Board -- Administrative Efficiency -- The Disability Insurance Backlog -- The Interface with Private Disability Insurance -- The Contributions of Illegal Immigrants.