Economist proposes guaranteed retirement funds for everybody

Here we go. News starting to leak out again.

"I want what members of Congress have -- for everybody else," says Teresa Ghilarducci as she describes her plan for Guaranteed Retirement Accounts.
Ghilarducci, the director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research, sees her plan as a better way for Americans to save for retirement.

Her proposal would be a mandated savings program, where workers would receive a safe, steady retirement income.

She says the U.S. expects something the rest of the world doesn't.

"We expect people to save every paycheck from the very beginning of their worklife at least 5- to 10 percent, keep that money in an account their entire worklife, not withdraw it for their child's expenses, for other kinds of hardships. We require that people know how to invest it, and we require that people find the lowest fees with which to invest."

Ghilarducci says that's something hard, if not impossible, for people to do when employers control 401(k) plans.

She says the government is the only entity on the planet with a long enough perspective to guarantee a return.