Individual Accounts, Take 2.(Brief Article)

Just think of them as the new lockbox. That's how Republican lawmakers have cast the latest version of individual, or private, accounts. House and Senate plans unveiled this summer would divert social security's overall cash surplus into savings accounts for workers under age 55 unless they opt out. Initially, money in the accounts would be invested in Treasury bonds, with other options to be considered starting in 2008. The White House's proposal, which never gained headway, would have fed private accounts from payroll taxes.

Congress routinely borrows from the surplu