"As far as personal accounts are concerned, we already have them. IRAs and 401Ks. If you want a personal account, have at it!"

Not reasonably. Not if you make less than $90,000 and most of the income that would be ear-marked for such an account (12% of it) is being sucked up by Social Security which, no matter how many times, or how dogmatically you keep repeating it, not everyone (Not even economists, not Greenspan, not Clinton, not Moynahan...) agrees will be there for those of us younger than you.

But thanks for ignoring!

The proposal for private accounts is merely to suggest gradually building the kind of accounts that most people mistakenly believe that Social Security now is.

Why do you think you get an annual report of your "Social Security account", if not to maintain the illusion that it is your money (not merely redistributed taxes) that you are retiring on?