Stock Market Fall and Pensions

I never expected to hear a disciple of F.A. Hayek, me, say that the government should socialize pensions, but the fall in the stock market on Monday convinces me that many ordinary people who are responsible for investing their own pension funds are betting on the stock market, usually through mutual funds.

If the government would collect pension funds and invest them in paying off the national debt while at the same time making pensions a first obligation of the federal government, it might be possible to restore sanity to the stock market while simultaneously safeguarding the pensions of future retirees.

KENNETH L. PERRY

Newport Beach

* Remember when the “experts” on Capitol Hill and the “smart-money boys” were advocating that Social Security funds should be privatized and put in stocks? How come the smart-money boys are now running toward lowly U.S. bonds and where are those experts now? Methinks I heard the sound of silence.

TONY CUMMINGS

Rancho Cucamonga