Typical Money magazine quality stuff.
I like this quote:
"the government will contribute $600 a year". Isn't that nice. Wonder who will fund this mandate? Oh wait, we get to pay more taxes to give back to ourselves? Why can't we just cut out the middle man and save more on our own. If your goal is to redistribute wealth robinhood-style, just raise taxes on the rich and bump up the earned income credit income limits and payout amounts.
Maybe that $50 billion in tax breaks for 401k contributors, once it is eliminated, can be used to pay the $600/yr into public "guaranteed retirement accounts".
I'm having a hard time seeing how this proposal is a lot different than Social Security or revised SS as proposed by the Bush administration with private investment accounts that are earmarked in your name specifically.
Why not just bump the SS payroll tax up another 2.5%, charge employers another 2.5%, and then increase SS payouts for all retirees? Why create a duplicate system to do essentially the same thing as SS does right now?