Bush's 2005 budget

CBPP lists the top 5 reasons why Bush’s plans to establish tax-favored “Lifetime Savings Accounts” and to replace existing Individual Retirement Accounts with “Retirement Savings Accounts” are a bad idea:

1. It would be extremely costly over time and would make the nation’s long-term fiscal problems substantially worse.
2. The benefits of the proposal would go overwhelmingly to the nation’s wealthiest individuals. (At least they’re consistent!)
3. The proposal would do little to boost private saving and, as a result, would almost certainly reduce national saving and thereby have a negative long-term effect on economic growth.
4. The proposal is likely to lead to a reduction in retirement savings for those most in need of such savings because it would undermine the incentives for employers to offer pension plans for their workers.
5. The proposal would harm state budgets.