With the deficit tally at $1.7 trillion for 2010, it’s not such a crazy question. The Obama administration is considering a proposal to create a retirement bond as part of a national direct-deposit retirement-savings program.
Dow Jones Newswires reports that although government officials said no final decisions have been made, the idea could be included in President Barack Obama's fiscal-2011 budget when it is finalized.
“The industry’s point has been that the savings bonds are handled in a very low cost, efficient way by the Treasury savings-bond organization,” U.S. Treasury Senior Advisor J. Mark Iwry, who handles retirement and healthcare policy, told the news service. “That might be a model for a way to deal with the very smallest accounts while they grow.”
As Dow Jones notes, the retirement bond could be the default investment option for workers using a government-run savings program, giving all workers a way to start saving for retirement that guarantees investment returns.