The Cato Institute CEO on changes to improve the U.S. economy.

Question: How can we fix our political and economic system?

Edward Crane:  Well, I would want people to own their retirement plans.  In most of the world, the government is in control of your retirement.  And I think it would be good for the economies to have private savings, rather than these pay-as-you-go plans and good for people’s sense of independence that they’re not dependent on the government when they retire.  I think that’s a very important initiative.  I would do everything possible to eliminate nuclear weapons from the world.  Everyone says, “Well, that’s impossible.”  I don’t think it is, and I think these things are just so horrible that we don’t appreciate that Hiroshima, what happened at Hiroshima was nothing compared to what would happen if one of these nukes were detonated today.  And so those are two initiatives, and keeping trade open, keeping dialogue between nations open.  It’s just, the prejudices people have against each other are so stupid, and people are people.