While the author may be correct in stating that the senate race between Sen. Landrieu and State Tres. Kennedy includes a debate on how to fix Social Security, unfortunately, the author does little to enlighten us about how a privatized system might actually work. In fact, I’m not sure that the author truly understands the full implications of privatizing Social Security. A single example of a tiny, yet successful pilot program done almost 30 years ago is not overwhelming evidence, yet it is all the author offers. What about the numerous failures in the history of privatization? The move to privatize Social Security is one part of a long movement that aims at placing commonly held assets into private hands — moving wealth from the masses to the few. Largely, this movement has produced startling results. Take, for example, Enron and the energy crisis in California, when a small number of executives made out like bandits while a democratically-elected governor was subject to an economic coup. And how about No Child Left Behind? By moving millions of dollars from public financing for schools to private hands, the act has effectively reduced teacher salaries while companies like Kaplan and the Princeton Review make massive profits with no oversight — and with negligible results. Or read about Latin America and the “Southern Cone” economic disasters during the 1970s and 1980s. Privatizing Social Security will have the same result: movement of a large amount of government controlled assets to a small number of private hands. Yes, the money previously managed by the government for you is now in your hands, but who is going to manage it now? Private financial companies, who will reap the largest benefits. Money management on the scale of Social Security and retirement is a full-time job. That is why you pay a financial adviser to do it for you. However, there are millions of people who will not be able to afford such services — people who rely on the government to do the job for them. Like it or not, this country faces a huge disparity in wealth between the richest and the poorest. Social Security was created as a lifeline for those who have no other way to save for retirement. It also acts as a form of disability insurance (again, for those who cannot afford insurance otherwise). It is certainly not “government bloat,” and privatizing it will remove an essential lifeline for millions of people in this country. I can understand the desire to be in control of your own future. By all means, save on your own for retirement — To do otherwise is foolish. But the ability to put aside part of each paycheck into a fund that you won’t touch for years is a luxury that not all citizens can afford. The author is correct in stating that the system is in a crisis, but it is still solvent and will be for decades to come. Now is the time for reform, not for the destruction of the system for the benefit of an elite few.Robert EllisGrad. Assistant, Board of Regents Fellow