Investment and Ignorance
Don Boudreaux, as usual, is right on in this post about the riskiness of allowing ignorant citizens invest in the market.
The fact that Uncle Sam has for so long assumed primary responsibility for providing for Americans’ retirement goes a long way toward explaining much of Americans’ ignorance about investing for retirement. Americans simply have less incentive to learn about such matters than we would have if each of us were responsible for our retirement.
Its sort of slimy to note that people don’t know much about the market, because the government has discouraged the motivation to gain information about it, and then turn around and argue that the government needs to therefore protect people from the market.
April 28th, 2005 16:58
Reminds me of a saying about government I heard years back:
“The government will break your legs, give you crutches, and then say to your face ‘See, without us you couldn’t walk!’”
April 28th, 2005 17:23
Congratulations, you’ve become Sweden.
April 29th, 2005 05:10
Exactly where in the article does it say the government needs to protect people from the market? It just says most Americans aren’t very educated about financial markets, which they aren’t.
As ususal, another paid add from the Republican party from Will.
April 29th, 2005 07:49
Bush embraces income redistribution in Social Security: “Progressive indexation” is yet another Robin Hood scheme.
For the last several decades, I’ve considered all that 12.4% FICA to be a pure tax. Not an insurance premium, not a pension contribution, but a pure tax.
I was right.
April 29th, 2005 11:57
This seems like a libertarian version of the “socialist man” fallacy. It is an observable fact about human nature that people do not plan rationally for their retirement or for the risk of disability or premature death. They already have plenty of incentive to do so. So the libertarian says that if we just change public policy, people will magically change into far-seeing retirement planners.
And if they don’t? Well, then we just have a lot of destitute old people. But it was their fault they invested all their money in that “no-risk” scheme that guaranteed double digit returns.
April 29th, 2005 12:12
There are lots of people who plan rationally for retirement and insure themselves against loss. Mostly, these are people who can afford it. The regressive payroll tax hits the least wealthy the hardest. For lots of poorer wage earners, after 12.4% in tax and life’s necessities, there is almost nothing left to invest. So there is no investment, no incentive to learn about investment, and the perpetuation of a non-investing, non-saving, hand-to-mouth ethos that helps to keep people poor.
April 29th, 2005 18:15
In underdeveloped countries, the plan for retirement is to have many kids so you have a good chance to have help when you need it. That’s a rational plan, isn’t it?
May 1st, 2005 16:27
“This seems like a libertarian version of the “socialist man” fallacy. It is an observable fact about human nature that people do not plan rationally for their retirement or for the risk of disability or premature death. They already have plenty of incentive to do so.”
Really? And what incentive would that be? And what impact do you think people’s insistence that the existence of destitute old people is horribly wrong, far more wrong than the existence of destitute young people, might have on the existence or nonexistence of “plenty of incentive” to take care of your own retirement?
May 2nd, 2005 13:48
Ok, I’m going to rant- How in the hell can anyone plan for retirement when I read retirement planning articles and studies that give wildly different information. None talk about reducing fixed pension spending for inflation, nor reducing for joint and survivor option. Past US data is used without deducting past investing costs (well above current index fund expenses, and no one cares that other markets had other results. Calculators cough out an end amount, yet give no pattern of withdrawal. Most planning calculators are crap. And I enjoy reading this stuff, imagine the result if you don’t.
May 2nd, 2005 23:49
Real estate rule: Location, Location, Location!
Investment rule: Diversify, Diversify, Diversify!