With a new President preparing to take office and a new Congress about to be sworn in, the Initiative on Financial Security has laid out a comprehensive savings agenda for policy makers to pursue in order to ensure the long-term economic prosperity of the United States.
Written in the form of a memo to President-Elect Obama, the paper – The Chance for Change – spells out the importance of saving to the long-term growth of the economy. In addition, although most experts are calling for more spending, not more saving, to address the current recession, the IFS paper argues that simultaneously stimulating the economy and encouraging savings are not inherently contradictory.
The Chance for Change concludes by making several policy recommendations and suggests how they might be pursued by the Administration and Congress. The recommendations include: investment accounts for every child born in America, savings accounts to build money for a downpayment on a home, retirement accounts for those without employer-sponsored pension plans, starter annuities to help ensure that people don’t outlive their savings in retirement, and a concerted effort to restore confidence in the financial services industry.
