Disclosure

Oh yeah, private investing of Social Security is good because investment firms have their customers best interests at heart:

Opening a new front in the state's attack on investment industry practices, California Atty. Gen. Bill Lockyer sued brokerage firm Edward Jones & Co. on Monday, claiming it had defrauded investors by failing to properly disclose sales arrangements with a handful of favored mutual fund companies.

(snip)

The suit focuses on the long-standing brokerage practice of selling so-called shelf space to fund companies: Over the last decade, many brokerages have offered to place certain funds on "recommended" or "preferred" lists in return for cash payments or other compensation beyond standard sales commissions.

Jones has preferred-sales agreements with seven mutual fund companies. The arrangements meant that Jones brokers were prodded to sell funds of the preferred firms even if those funds weren't necessarily the best choices for individual customers, Lockyer said.

If investment groups really had retirees best intrests at heart, then I could see an argument being made. But they don't. And that is one of the many problems with Bush's plan.