In an excellent column for Forbes, Ken Kam explains what's really wrong with Social Security. Forget the politics and the debate about its future solvency -- Kam explains it this way: When his daughter was born, he realized that if he could invest $2 thousand for her each year of her life and grow it at 11% a year (An aggressive target, but we'll go with it), that money would have grown to $1 million by her 40th birthday -- and $30 million by her seventieth!

What does that have to do with Social Security? Most people put in more than $2 thousand per year -- a lot more. And yet Social Security will never provide them with anything like that kind of a nest egg.

Albert Einstein is widely quoted as having said that compound interest is the most important mathematical discovery of all-time -- or words to that effect. And yet our federally mandated retirement system fails to take advantage of it, instead opting for what amounts to an elaborate Ponzi scheme, sustainable only by the rule of law and population growth.

Mr. Kam talks about his idea for a "Bicycle Trust" as a way to "assist our children in their efforts to become self-sufficient, valuable members of society. Just as a bicycle enables you to travel farther and faster than being on foot, our trust should amplify our children's own efforts to develop their abilities so they can go farther and faster than they otherwise would have."

There's a link to more information in the column, and it's certainly worth checking out.