Peter Ferrara died yesterday at 71. He was a longtime libertarian/conservative scholar best known as the brilliant godfather of real entitlement reform.  His first proposal for Social Security privatization was written as his Harvard Law thesis before being adapted into a Cato book in 1980.  He later served in the Reagan and Bush administrations.

Peter was a frequent collaborator with your HOTLINE editors on free-market issues including entitlement spending, welfare dependency, and regulatory overreach.  Peter was also one of the original architects (along with John Goodman) of medical savings accounts, now known as HSAs. He was a fierce defender of fossil fuels and skeptic of man-made climate change, and he never wavered in his commitment to limited government.

If Ferrara’s Social Security plan had been adopted back in the late 1980s or 90s the average Baby Boom retiree would be receiving benefits three to four times higher than the rip off that Social Security pays.

Peter’s plan would also be the largest tax cut, spending cut, and debt reduction plan in American history.  In 2003 it was scored by the chief actuary of Social Security as achieving full solvency without tax increases or benefit cuts.

We keep hearing about “entitlement reform,” but Ferrara’s plan is by far the one that matters most.  Our goal is to keep his dream of creating real wealth for workers alive.