I’ve always thought that we should offer some kind of a credit to parents to invest in a retirement account for their kids. Nothing huge, but something that will get six decades of compound interest. Not only would that help all future generations to retire in an economically sustainable way, but it should also be a slow and steady boost to the economy.
Unfortunately, that would be unlikely to happen in the best of times. The people who would benefit most won’t be voters for years, and won’t actually reap the benefits until the politicians passing the law are all long dead. Given the dystopian nightmare timeline we’re in now, I’d say the odds of a program like that being created are slightly lower than the odds of us trying to fund social security by invading Ireland to find their leprechaun gold.
The difference between my proposed policy and the ones you are discussing is that I would suggest that there should be some amount of funding for it coming from the government. I wouldn’t object to parents being able to invest some additional money into the account, but I don’t think it solves the problem if parents are the only ones contributing. Kids already put a strain on finances, and most people aren’t going to invest money they need today in an account that won’t be touched for more than half a century. Lower income families in particular would get the most benefit from such a program and would be the least likely to use it unless it was funded by the government.
I wouldn’t even want to make this an optional program, I’d say the account should be created automatically and parents can gain access in order add money of their own or possibly to adjust the investments among a defined set of options. When a kid comes of age they would be able to claim the account, and they should be able to contribute to it with a withholding from their paycheck.