Wednesday, October 7, 2009

OBAMA ADVISER SAYS THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD FORCE US TO SAVE

Obama adviser backs automatic savings programs

Austan Goolsbee, a member of the Council of Economic Advisers and the chief economist for the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, says he believes automatic savings programs are more effective than tax credits when it comes to getting people to save for retirement. "A lot of people have a hard time actually going down and saying, 'Take money out of my paycheck and put it in the bank,' ... but if you default them into a savings program ... you automatically have money put into a 401(k)," he said. "The evidence suggests that for a lot of people that's way more effective than even giving them big tax credits to encourage them to do it because people are too busy." The Washington Post