Herman Cain, the former pizza executive surging in polls for the Republican presidential nomination, wants to replace Social Security with what he called the “Chilean model” of private pension funds. Full adoption of that model may push the U.S. deeper into deficit than Greece.
Chile’s system, introduced under the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, diverted workers’ contributions into privately run funds, slashing government revenue over the next few decades in exchange for a reduction in state pension payments 30 years down the line.
