Briefing Paper No. 55  The Archer-Shaw Social Security Plan:
Laying the Groundwork for Another S&L Crisis  By Andrew G. Biggs
February 16, 2000  Executive Summary  The Social Security reform
plan proposed by Reps. Bill Archer (R-Tex.) and Clay Shaw
(R-Fla.), chairmen, respectively, of the House Ways and Means
Committee and its Subcommittee on Social Security, is a
compromise between a Clinton administration plan to let the
government invest workers’ payroll taxes in the market and
congressional proposals to let individuals invest their payroll
taxes in personal market-based accounts. Government investment
has been criticized for the possibility of political influence
on investment decisions, while personal accounts face attack for
making individuals shoulder the burden of market risk. The
Archer-Shaw plan is an attempt to satisfy critics of both
approaches.  The Archer-Shaw plan would let individuals make
investment decisions, thereby reducing the likelihood of
political influence, but the government would be