Scare Tactics

Matthew Yglisias worries the Democrats are pushing the wrong scare story on social security:

I must admit to being slightly distressed by the impression I'm getting from the news coverage that the Democratic Social Security plan is to spend a lot of time fear-mongering about the evils of risky private accounts. That seems like the wrong scare story to tell. A stock portfolio is, indeed, risky, but we all appreciate that it's better to have one than to not have one. The scary thing is the cut in the guaranteed benefits that Bush wants to use to pay for your "private" account.

Absolutely right.

Here's the bottom line, currently social security is an insurance policy that channels money from those that die young to those that live a long life. Private accounts are savings that let you keep your money should you die young, necessarily having fewer funds available for the living.

In other words, current policy is better while you are alive and privatization is better after you die.

Which do you prefer?