The article is nothing but agitprop. When someone writes that SS is fully funded until 2037 you should know that you are dealing with a lying liberal. SS is cash negative now and will only get worse. The 2037 date only applies if you believe the “trust fund” fairy tale.
Liberals are desperate to try to discredit any successful alternative to SS, whether it is the Chilean model or the Galveston model. You can expect a lot of misleading articles on this subject from here on out in an effort to “save” our Ponzi schemes (SS and Medicare).
“How Well Has Chile’s Retirement Program Aged?”
http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1263
Selection from link:
“Chile enacted its national defined contribution pension system in 1981 after the prior government-run systems collapsed. The core element of the plan is that workers are required to set aside 10% of their earnings into private savings accounts. Eleven other Latin American countries have copied elements of the Chilean approach, in which bankrupt state-run pension plans are replaced by defined contribution-funded individual accounts. ‘This reform model has been exported all around the Americas and it’s been held up by many as a fine example of a well-functioning national personal accounts system,’ says the Wharton School’s Olivia Mitchell. Overall, the Chilean system has provided savers a 10% real rate of return since its inception. ‘That has made the system very popular, but it’s not clear whether this can persist in the future, or whether others can replicate it,’ she adds.”
A ten percent real rate of return over decades would make any system popular. Our Social Security system does not vest to retirees, so it’s impossible to calculate a real rate of return, as far as I can tell.